I write horror as a Christian. It's an interesting juxtaposition and allows me to have God be very real for my main character without my readers feeling like they just got hit over the head with a sermon. In one of the first reviews I received, the reviewer wrote that it made her want to go back to Church.
@@nikiflorica8783 Thanks!! I like Ted Dekker a lot! I've read "House" and "Thr3e" and have the audio book for "Water Walker" I can't wait to listen to. Frank Peretti is also fun, but his books don't cross over to "mainstream" audiences the way Ted's do. I'm glad I found your channel. It's always great to connect with other Christian writers.
@@MediaAttorney "House" is the only one I've read! Admittedly, it did not work for me, but I'm not a horror-book gal so I was out of my element, lol! And ooooh! I didn't realize Dekker was more mainstream than Peretti! I kind of thought they were in the same league. And I am also glad you found the channel! I'm so encouraged by the awesome things God has already done through your writing and I can't wait to hear what happens with your next projects!
I can’t remember the name of the film now, but recently a mainstream Christian horror film recently was released. I am not a horror fan myself, but I appreciate the testimonies I have heard in which people who went to see a horror film had the Holy Spirit poured out on them, people started manifesting demons, but had other people praying for their deliverance and casting the demons out.
Fellow writer here. Growing up Christian, I struggled with the fear of doing something wrong, of acting against God's plan with my choices. That fear held me back from trying things and growing. If you want to glorify God by your writing, go all out! Pour your passion into the page and write the story that is burning inside you! Don't worry about whether there's too much magic or how parallel it should be to Biblical stories. Without fear, write the story God inspires within you.
Thank you so much for sharing these thoughts! I think it's great to be motivated to serve God rightly, but it doesn't need to cripple us as writers. God is the best source of inspiration, after all! "Without fear, write the story God inspires within you." I love that! Thank you again!
Something that might be quite encouraging is that c.s. lewis' views on things were constantly changing, so you'll read one book (or article or whatever) and you'll come away thinking he thought one way about something, and then years later his thoughts on it changed and that was visible in other things he wrote. It's definitely important to give ourselves (and other Christian writers... Or any writer tbh) a bit of grace for having their themes/ideas/ways of reflecting thoughts change over time in writing. I don't know if I explained that very well, but I hope that's encouraging!
I love that you brought that up, Elizabeth, because I just recently started noticing that in C.S. Lewis!! And I do find that ridiculously reassuring-we're all on a journey, we're all learning, and we all need to give each other grace. Thanks so much for those thoughts!!
Yes, totally! I can see what you said in comparing The Chronicles of Narnia with his late novel, Till we have faces. His approach to spirituality through symbolism and metaphors changed so much, and still both narratives are beautiful in their own way (though I love Till we have faces way more haha)
“I’d rather get the spiritual message right.” I agree with you 💯. Am currently writing my first Christian fantasy series with the idea of conveying the spiritual message. Listening to you say this and backing it up with truth telling in your story resonates with me. Finding other Christian fantasy writers is helping me with all these mixed emotions about my writing. Am glad I found your channel.
I'm so glad it was helpful to you!!! I think a lot of Christian writers struggle with this, and knowing that we're not alone can make all the difference-at least, it has for me! :D
@@nikiflorica8783 a song of ice and fire is my favorite fantasy series because it subverts a bunch of the old fantasy tropes we know and love we all would all love to be an awesome knight fighting for justice against evil but the world is not always black and white it's a lot dark gray that's what I really like in stories cause it's more relatable like when Jamie has to choose to keep his kings guard oath to obey his king who wants to burn the entire Kingdom down with wildfire substance or save the kingdom from a terrible fate by killing the mad king aerys Targaryen the 2nd and be hated as a kingslayer forever that's why the series is interesting to me
for real! the world has given creativity to lucifer. or atlest hear in the west. christains need to work on "FIRE" music and stuff. while are some fire songs they are sometimes hard to find., and most christains seem to think magicaly making a copy of something is "bad" (something jesus TOTALY would and DID do!) its buy a christain CD, or take care of God's creatures (caught possible pregnant semi feral cat)
Fellow follower of Christ here. I’ve been a youth pastor for over 25 years and just started my writing journey. I’m excited to hear more about your writing!
I've struggled with this for a long time. I think you hit the nail on the head. It's very encouraging to hear another Christian writer of fantasy talk about this in such a well-thought-out way. Thanks!
Great video! Narnia and Lord of the rings are probably the best examples of Christian fantasy literature. Narnia takes the more directly biblical approach, whereas LOTR uses Christian (or in Tolkien’s case, catholic) morality and “good vs evil” influences, in a more Celtic mythical theme. 🌿🌿 It would be fun to hear your thoughts on these two books series, in a video, especially from a Christian perspective.
For me, I'm a Christian comic author/illustrator. I originally had trouble deciding whether or not to include things that are popular, but against my beliefs (both Christian and personal). In the end, after some prayers, I learned that if you're going to have haters no matter what you write, you should keep it aligned to your beliefs. Yes there are characters who do commit sin (there's no conflict without at least one person doing something wrong) but I try to have my main characters learn lessons I've learned from church.
I'm a christian comic author too! And eventually I also came to your conclusion. It is most difficult to me because most mainstream comic artists are not christians, or are forced to write in non-christian worlds fully permeated with bad worldviews. And it really stands everywhere. It seems like after the early 20th century when comics started christians also started to get away from visual arts, and so its really difficult to find good stories. Many of them are very uplifting, but stand in a bad world. Some of them are permeatted with pagan worldviews, and I'm really afraid to not bring these ideas into mine.
Oh my gosh! I’m so thankful I found your channel! I am a Christian first and writer second! I haven’t written since I got saved. I have been really feeling led to write again but I also feel led to write fiction. Thank you for this video! Don’t stop posting!
I'm so glad you found it, too!! And I absolutely hope you start writing again; it sounds like God wants to do something with your gift, so you'll have to keep me posted on how it goes! :D
Though i'm not a Christian anymore, a Christian minister once said that when god gives us a gift it is our duty to use it. To go through life and not use the gifts god gives you is as much a sin as any other. And who wants to spend their entire life trying to deny their gifts in order to be what mortal men tell them is a good Christian only to stand before St Peter and have heaven denied to them because they refused to use the gifts god had given them to make the world better in their lifetime? So write if writing is what god made you to do.
@@nagillim7915 i got goosebumps reading what you wrote, and it truly reached something inside of me. I'm having problems with my hands, and sometimes it hurts so i can't write nor draw, and a few times my mom tried to imply, that maybe God gives me this pain, to tell me that i shouldn't do these things. But i truly feel inside, that i've gotten my gifts for a reason, and this pain is not here to stop me from doing these, but to strengthen me. (sorry for bragging here, even though noone is going to read this, it was nice to write it out. And thank you for writing your thoughts down again:)
@@annaszamborovszky8567 - if you're having problems wkth your hands as a writer get checked out for carpal tunnel syndrome if you can. If it's not too far progressed steroid injections can take the pain away completely for years. I got mine done in 2012 and it was only last year the pain started coming back. If it is cts, try an upright mouse and a split keyboard. I also got myself a desk that raises and lowers last year and it was one of the best things i invested in.
Niki!!! Hi, my name is Ande, I'm a Christian writer who also loves writing and writing fantasy. This video really hit home for me, and was so relatable. Thanks for being so open and forward about your faith, it's inspiring! :)
I've been working on writing a fantasy book where a lot of the characters are inspired by my church friends, so this was the perfect time for me to find the video
Great video! 😉 I know there are readers that want good, light Christian stories without hard conflict. But then there are those that enjoy the idea that light shines brighter in the dark. If you write to one or the other, there’s a reader for that! Being a Christian doesn’t mean you live in a sinless world. I agree, even if I’m not writing “Christian” stories I will both adhere to my personal values and do my best to instill those with my words (light, truth, hope, etc.) Thanks for sharing! I know there can be confusion and controversy when it comes to Spiritual beliefs.
Hey Hannah! So true -- there's a broad spectrum of convictions and even just personal tastes when it comes to light versus darkness stories, but you're right. There's an audience for both! That in itself is soooo reassuring. 😂
So happy to have found your channel today girlfriend! My journey as a writer is similair to yours in that at a younger age I discovered my love of stories and storytelling! As I got older, Christ continued to call to me and draw me closer, and me having grown up listening to C.S. Lewis' narnia books, I wanted to do something similair with my own story. That was... I think, when I was at least fifteen, maybe sixteen. My author jounrey began when I was fourteen, but my jounrey with Christ while being an aspiring auther probably began when I was sixteen. About six years later, I'm still writing the beginning of this story, but its grown so much. I've had many, and I mean many with a captical FRUSTRATING, redrawfts and starting it all over again because it just wasn't working. Basically, I've started to pursue God a lot more the past two years, and it has made a tramendous difference in the story. Obviously I've been growing as a writer as well, but my goal for the story has always shined a little brighter. I started actaully outlining in order to tell myself the plot of this story before trying to write it all pretty in a first draft (never pretty by the way T.T), and had gotten about 40+ chapters outlined, and was at the threshold of what I intended to be the climax, only to find... the story felt, empty. I realized I'd been writing events and everything that would normally make a story good, but something crucial was missing which I couldn't pinpoint. I left the draft to sit, going on with more focus in life like my fulltime job, and decided to take a leap in faith and get more involved at my church. God has blessed me with a good and loving family who puts Christ first, and my church fam is the exact same. I' accepted an assistant teacher possition in our very small youthgroup, and I became involved in a women's Bible Study series (Called Flourish, please do look into it) and my otherwise lukewarm faith was rekindled. As I devled more determinedly into God's Word, hearing more of His voice and seeing Him in my everyday life, I began to realize just what was missing in my story. The past five years were spent building this story, the last one in a half being dramatic improvements as my skill in the profession grew, and I do believe God has given me these ideas and characters for the purpose of creating a story which glorifies Him, but that's just it. Near the end of 2022, I realized my entire goal for this series had dwindled. Picture a little child on a beach, wanting to build an epic sandcastle. Her dad is watching her struggle, and gives her a few of those fun shaped buckets, gives her an idea on how she can make the foundation. The girl scampers off, and kinda succeeds, but keeps getting fustrated when she can't achieve what she's aiming for. Knowing he can help, she runs back to Dad for help, and he helps her, giving her tools, ideas, and encouragement, and he even offers to help her build it. She wants it all to herself though, and so only takes the tools and encouragement, but is trying to accompish his idea. She can try all she wants, but she won't achieve what she's looking for without his help (very good at building and repairing things, her father is ^^). Finally, realizing what she wants can't be attained by her own skills alone, the girl asks if her father will sit down in the sand, and help her build this epic sandcastle. Overjoyed to be apart of it, her father takes her hand, and they get to work. To sum it up, I realized I was aiming for all the right things, but God was missing in this story. I didn't scrap the outline I had built up, but instead, I dropped it all in a folder, and started a new one with this new mindset at the front of it all. I'm realizing the story (stories actually, I have quite a few planned) I'm making is going to take a lot more effort than others, because as some people have already commented, as Christians, we have to align what we're putting out into the world with what God wants and calls for us to do. I could go on all day, but basically I'm in desperate need for peeps who write or read fantasy, and are strong Christians and actively pursuiting Christ. If only I could have a day or so to talk to people like C.S. Lewis and hear how he did it, and what he'd recomend. I lost sight of the true goal and meaning of this story once, and I really don't want to loose it again by hording the story to my own concepts. If you've made it this far, thank you so much for coming to my TED talk XD
Oh, my goodness, you have made my night!!! Thank you so much for your TED talk (lol!!) and for taking the time to share your journey with me. I relate on so many levels and I am thrilled to hear that God has breathed meaning into your story and into your spiritual life, as well! Oh, if only we could talk to C.S. Lewis... I think I'd need, like, six months to ask all the questions I have. 😅 It doesn't sound like you need him, though-your sandcastle metaphor is on point! Lewis would be proud. :) Please, please keep me updated on your story!!! And if you ever want to chat, feel free to DM me on Instagram (@nikifloricawrites) or on Facebook at Niki Florica. I really believe that Christian fantasy writers need to support each other. :) God bless, sister!!
Wow! Amazing testimony there, sister! It actually made me tear up. Tbh, your journey in faith and writing sounds a LOT like mine! Ever since I was a little kid, I loved to write. But the call to serious writing to glorify Christ came at 13/14. (Same age.😁) The call hit me hard during a dark time in my life. A big thing I struggle with is cynicism, largely because I've been burned by quite a few people. There was a time where I, wrongly, allowed that to taint my view of God. I was a Christian at 14, yes, but I was definitely doubting the goodness of God and the reality of hope. The loving and merciful Father that He is, He fixed my eyes and clarified things to me in a powerful way. He reminded me of the truth, and I soon could not wallow in my despair, especially since Hope is a Person (God). That same time, He breathed new life into my love for writing. He solidified the seed that He'd planted in me through the likes of CS Lewis, who I'd just love to have a sit down with as well.😁 My first novel length story was born out of the lesson that God gave me at 14--that hope is never lost on this side of eternity. And, alongside my question of, "What if I write a story about aliens (it's a sci-fi war story) but with biblical themes?" God handed me just the perfect theme. That story has turned into a pretty lengthy series.😅 Seven years later, it's still unfinished (I have a lot of other projects too), but someday when/if it's published, I truly hope that it touches at least one person to never give up on hope and find faith in God. Yes, things may look bleak, but we serve an awesome God Who can turn any--and I mean ANY--situation for the better and His glory. This year in particular, I had to learn this lesson the hard way again. (I tend to need reminders a lot, but I'm so grateful that God is patient and merciful with me.) Twice, I tried to quit because I was letting my cynicism take a hold of me again when stress mounted up. Both times, God went to great and powerful lengths to call me back. (I can relate to Jonah quite a bit now.) He's used the words of other people, music, His own Word...Wow. I never cease to be amazed. As I write, including my sci-fi and fantasy that I'm so excited about, I hope to do nothing less than glorify the God Who saved my soul and my life.
This was really encouraging to read, thank you for sharing your journey with all of us! Just what I needed to read at 4 AM when I was getting into my own head and losing sight of where I should be, this brought me back! God be praised! Thank you for this my dear!
2:48. As an atheist - I think we can all agree that the prince of egypt is awesome, the soundtrack is amazing and as a whole the movie is great. I'm also lucky that I got to hear it in Hebrew since I know Hebrew (I'm from Israel 🇮🇱), and the voice actors in Hebrew had to do it really good because the story of moses is important in Jewish culture as well (maybe to Jews even more than Christians since we have a whole holiday of 2 weeks on the story of moses getting the Israelites out of egypt). P.S Yes, you can be an atheist jew. Judaism considers you a jew based on your parents, not beliefs. Even the ultra-orthodox jews (Kharedim) see secular and atheist jews as jews. P.S P.S In Israel secular and atheist are two different things: Secular meaning you don't live according to the halakha (like you eat pork, don't keep the shabath, etc.). So you can believe but still eat prok, and then you are a secular believer jew. Atheist means you don't belive in any deity.
As a born again Christian reinventing myself as a content creator, I can really resonate with your struggles at finding balance between portraying truth and keeping the story interesting. I think so long as you have morals in the story that represents what God expects out of all of us, then it shouldn't matter how you tell the story.
Back in my Freshman year of high school, I decided to create an anthology revolving around dinosaurs fighting for survival but it had a twist where they also fought against paranormal spirits. It was an allegory for spiritual warfare and the spirit’s fight against the flesh, but of course, this was one of my first attempts at implementing my faith in my writing and a lot of people could tell it had christian undertones :,). I’m hoping to improve it now by turning it into a ttrpg system so people could not have the spiritual warfare handed to them but have them really dig into the story’s lore to find it.
I’m writing a 13 part Christian allegorical fantasy series called The Banner of The Broken Cross. It shall be epic. in the middle of outlining in detail the third book. i want the whole series to be finished before final publication. Releasing one book a year.
I definitely went on this journey, too! I had always known I wanted to write and though I grew up in a Christian home, it wasn't until I fully accepted Christ myself that I wanted to do it to glorify Him instead of myself. So, the first five years of this path led me to write a novel under Christian historical fiction (a story I love dearly). The characters, setting, and period have a soft spot in my heart, but after finishing multiple drafts (and prayer), I decided to set it aside. Maybe I'll pick it up again, but the way I wrote it wasn't in MY voice. It was a serious work with a lot of grief which is important, but when writing it, I often felt more burnt-out than inspired. So, I set it aside to focus on projects that bring me joy and feel like it brings life. And then, I started writing a sci-fi comedy. At first, I wanted to slap Christianity into it, but as I've been on my writing journey, I found that it would take away from the plot and momentum, feeling preachy instead of telling an important story. And God has been showing me that I can incorporate faith in other ways. With a year of bible college under my belt, I learned a lot of cool historical things as well as taking 10 credit hours of Greek. I was able to mirror different biblical and historical events (like the diaspora and exile as well as the exodus) and tell it from a relatable point of view. Instead of blatantly making Christianity a part of it, I instead talk about faith, conformity, truth, and justice from the perspective of a Christian. I even try to show both sides of important issues like immigration and racism but in the lens of a whole different galaxy. And then, as someone who lives and breathes goofiness and jokes, made it funny to lighten the load. I know this is long, but it makes me glad that God has taken not only me on this journey because for the beginning I felt shame from others for not writing blatantly Christian work. But as an evangelist, I'd rather reach the lost than please my peers, and sometimes you start small. You start by offering new perspectives--perspectives from biblical stances, to share the beauty of God's love, truth, and grace. :) Super glad I found your channel and look forward to seeing more of you and your writing adventure!
Thank you this video. For my fantasy I have taken my MC from light to dark. Then my plan is to bring him back out. Showing a person can come from, out of the dark back to the light.
Cool! I really like that! And it's not like that doesn't happen-some people's spiritual journeys do look like that, and I think the important thing is getting back to the light.
Thanks for the vid! You've helped me realize I need to glorify God more in my stories. Seeing that I wasn't the only one who wrestled with this was comforting.
You're definitely not the only one! I still struggle to navigate this sometimes, but knowing that other writers are on the same journey can be very encouraging, I've found. 😅
Im a Christian, but writing an extreme horror Dark Fantasy book. Write what you want to write, God gave us freewill, writing a book not based off Christianity isnt a sin
I'm currently writing a story about two people who were fatefully paired together (obviously from God), but I'm not going to explicitly say that. The characters think about God throughout the story through brief prayers and that sort of thing, and to me, that's enough. I don't want to force religion down my readers' throats, but I want that idea to be present. This video helps a lot! Thank you!
thanks so much for speaking on this topic + for emphasizing the nuance of this conversation! recently, i was listening to a The Christian Publishing Show podcast + the conversation was about worldview, specifically how this has the biggest influence on the stories we tell. they were saying that fantasy is the best space to convey a christian worldview to readers (in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways) because of all the components of the genre (ex: world building, themes, tropes). this really spoke to me because this is yet another way that we can honour Christ with our writing - and it honestly comes so naturally to us! our worldview really guides the art we create.
That's exactly how I feel! You can do things with fantasy that just don't work in other genres because they come off as really on-the-nose in a real-world context. I love our genre!!!!
Hello, I'm a fellow writer of Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror, and I am also a Christian. I don't think of my work as Christian fiction, nor do I set out write Christian themes in my stories, but they often come up as a consequence of my aiming for authenticity and depth. For Fantasy in particular, my inspiration stems less from the D&D and Tolkien inspired secondary world stories you tend to see on the shelves of most book stories and more from the body of myth and folklore that inspired this genre in the first place. What I invariably find is that religion deeply informs and inhabits the cultural milieu these stories were originally told in, and so avoiding it is impossible. My last published story, entitled "The Hanged Man of Elendorf", appeared in a vampire-themed anthology put out by Dragon Soul Press entitled "To Hunt and to Hold", which was published at the end of September. It's brutal and bloody, as befits the genre I was writing for, but it is also deeply and uncompromisingly Christian in its ethos.
I'm so glad it resonated with you!! I still struggle with it sometimes, but it's so encouraging to see Christians pushing through this to write powerful stories!
i would think the ultimate CREATOR, would be more CREATIVE than ssatan, but seems humans have given for most part creativity to satan, look at "worldly art" and "Christain art" or atlest hear in the west the "Christan art" is predictable, and the "worldly art" is if its "modern" and not if its "classical" well seems same for christain art when look at OLD christain art its CREATIVE, and christan art OUTSIDE the west is ofton creative.
I really liked this video. I’ve been writing since I was ten years old on multiple different stories and a lot of fanfiction, and I love incorporating Jesus and how He’s taken care of me and taught me. Right now I’m writing a Sleeping Beauty retelling (the 1959 cartoon from Disney was one of my favorite movies as a child), and it’s very much inspired by Norse mythology, as well as a culmination of several different genres. I like how you talk about the many different ways to glorify Jesus, which is all I’ve ever wanted to do. It’s very refreshing to see someone talk about what I’ve been thinking and feeling for years. Thank you! :)
@@zodlord5669 Tolkien's work are Christian. The themes of temptation, resurrection, Saviour and Providence are everywhere. The pagan elements are tools just C.S Lewis' pagan elements.
Thank you very much for this video. This video came up in my feed today, and I had to watch it because I am going through the same thing right now. God's timing is incredible. I am also a Christian and a writer, and 53 years old, and I don't think I have had this explained as well as you did in this video. I'm writing a fantasy series, planned for seven books. Like the Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe, I have some symbolism in my book. In C.S Lewis's novels, the lion was Jesus. I have a Pool of Light in my books that represent God. But sometimes I struggle. Like, I have magic in my world, and it took me a while to realize that I'm not condoning the use of magic just because I write about it. After all, God didn't condone multiple wives, but people did it anyways. I think I'm ok if I don't contradict scriptures and if I adhere to Christrian values and glorify God. Right? Thank you again. Did you ever publish your book?
Thank you. I’m thinking of writing a contemporary fantasy novel,. I loved Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti as a young adult. You’re so inspiring. It isn’t easy finding fiction Christian writing tips
Thank the Lord! I'm glad it's helpful to you. And oh man, I loved Frank Peretti's "This Present Darkness" when I read it as a YA. Ted Dekker's Circle Series character, Elyon, really impacted me, too. I hope you do write that contemporary fantasy!!
Yeah, I think it’s important to represent the theology of God's Word, but as long as the ideas agree, the story can be something different. I appreciate what you said about how the people who have a problem with basic fantasy aspects (dragons, magic) probably aren't going to read my fantasy book anyway. That's helpful to remember. 😊
I made a story that I absolutely adored before I truly devoted my life to Christ. Now I’m overhauling it to glorify Him and point back to Him. Still, it has some really dark themes. I know that God will show me how to work out his Grace love and guidance in demonstration through those character’s stories but I’m worried that it will bring on the ever asked question of why would God allow these people to suffer? I understand that that can be asked on any hardship or trial but certain parts of my characters backgrounds are really dark and the prevalence of them in my story may make people ask that more. The story ultimately has them as the protagonists but still. Thoughts?
Hi Anna! First of all, can I just say I LOVE what you are doing-turning your passion project into an act of worship like that. Amazing! Without knowing your story very well, I don't want to advise you too much. What I can say is that I have characters who have suffered extreme darkness as well, but ultimately find the light and see the meaning in what they endured. Suffering happens in the real world, and some people who suffer the most find the most joy in Christ on the other side of that pain. I don't see a need to shy away from that in our writing, if that makes sense? God can work through suffering to bring about great things, and that could be something your reader really needs to see. I hope that's relevant!
Hi. The one thing that is missing from the whole discussion about fantasy is the fact that the most famous authors in the genre are/were religious/spiritual. J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, J.K. Rowling, George Lucas (yes, Star Wars is fantasy, I will die on that hill) created works that were heavily inspired by their conviction in higher power - and this is what essentialy the genre is about, a higher power. I myself am no christian, if I had to put a label on myself I'd say I'm a buddhist and I'm certain that if I publish anything in the future it's going to be a story conveying buddhist message. I have seen a video from the channel Pilgrim's Pass talking about how science fiction is religious, worth watching.
Thank you for this video, I suffer from a lot of mental health issues; part of it is that I become paralyzed with second guesses and fears over if I'm doing things that honor God. I love to write, it's my only productive skill but I am super bad at writing Christian allegories they come out cheap and cheesy and I feel as though they insult God in a way. So I write regular fantasy and sometimes i get worried about it. this video helped me so much. God bless
I'm so glad it was helpful for you, and I'm so sorry that you have to deal with those extra burdens. Writing is hard enough without those added struggles, so I will pray for God's continued inspiration, strength, and healing in your life as you keep moving forward with your writing journey. I can't wait to see the stories you come up with! God bless!!
This was an excellent exploration of Christian responsibility in creativity and I thank you for your insights. I'm just getting started on my second novel (scifi-urban fantasy) and so far the live bird analogy has really held true. If you hold onto your allegory to hard, you squish it, it cannot sing, and is near to death. I find that I have to be willing to let the same thing represent different things in each chapter or perhaps even sentence to sentence. First off as a Christian you have to trust the spirit to guide people's heart on whatever level He knows is best. Trying to write without that trust is like trying to evangelize, you might as well be talking about the tooth fairy if not for the spirit teaching and softening those He can. I also think its important that you allow Christ figures to be just that, rather than perfect characters who if real would be Christ himself and no figure. Joseph, Abraham, Issac, Moses, Joshua, and so many others were Christ figures and yet they were imperfect. You must be also be willing to let your Christ figures be finite in their power as was every biblical Christ figure. The fact that they do not wield the full power of God and cannot call down ten legions of angels if they so desire makes them a Christ figure in the biblical style and not a failure on your part as a writer.
You pointed out a lot of things ive experienced especially the balance because I had felt I would have to be overtly christian or else id be in the wrong or sinning, but now im finding my sweet spot where im still being inspired by God by the Bible with the stories im creating.
I'm glad I found this video. That voiced a lot of my same struggles with writing. The Prince Warriors series by Priscilla Shirer and Gina Detwiler, The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, and The Seven Sleepers series by Gilbert Morris are all great Christian fantasy. As a Christian girl who loves to read and write, I'm constantly looking for more books like theirs.
Wow, I've been hearing so much about Wingfeather lately, but I've never heard of those other series! Exciting!! Thank you for those recommendations, and definitely keep me posted if you find more like these. :) Do you enjoy any of Chuck Black's books?
"Some people are afraid of how many darkness you can put on your (good vs evil) story". I have had some comments like that before. In my church they were actually so discouraging that i ended up making up a pen name and i don't tell my brothers and sisters in faith that i write. But here's the thing: I never had the courage to say this, but i always thought "Does your God need to be protected from a too strong evil? ¡Because i looked for Jesus because i needed Him to protect ME from my demons, and those were Lovecraftian size! He doesn't need me to protect Him from going into the ring with the absolutely worst my mind can imagine. He actually laughs at it and says that if He can redeem me from my absolute worst, then ¡He already defeated the worst my mind can come up with!
I'm so sorry that you experienced such negative feedback there. That must have been so discouraging, but I love where you landed! We serve a really big God, and yes, some audiences may be deterred from the darkness in your story, but other readers who have experienced true darkness may NEED to see how Jesus redeems it. At the end of the day, if you're writing for his glory, he will use it to reach the right people. Thank you so much for sharing your experience!!
I think you have the correct mentality: focusing on the spiritual aspects (themes) and write about that in your own way rather than strictly following the old stories beat for beat. The message and having tge characters embody values is more important. A hero that has clear desires and values or learns clear lessons is more gripping.
same here, Christian first, writer (and everything else) second however dark my stories can get, I'll always try to spread a message of hope, love and freedom c:
Where would you sit on writing ‘clean’ vs writing ‘clean Christian’? Personally I have a desire to write stories that show case healthy love relationships that combat the culture understanding of what it is now. Ex not portray the man as dumb or necessary evil but the strong leader God intended them to be. I wish there was more books that were clean that portrayed Gods love in relationships better but it not necessarily have to fit within a certain Christian worldview. I LOVE fantasy! I have been inspired by CS Lewis and JR Tolkien. The worlds they built show Gods creativity but they didn’t blatantly show Gods redemptive story. I think there is a space for showing our creativity while also showing principles God asks us to live by. Just a thought/wondering ❤ So happy to have found this video it was extremely well done, articulate and professional!
I write Christian horror, as an Orthodox Christian (I have even a bachelor degree in theology). Indeed, lately, my works have become a fusion between horror and fantasy and I tried to express how fantasy and horror can work together in having a clear Christian sense. The latest work was pretty hard to work but I think I managed to present some serious real life Christian issues and situations through the fantasy framework. Perhaps self-promo would be ok?
ive been trying to write a book for ten years but there's always this conviction I have because I'm a Christian and its hard not to get caught up in trying to stay more worldly then Christian. if that makes sense.
Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are great Christian writers of fantasy. Tolkien is probably the father of fantasy writing and I love the fact that he was a devout Christian. Most of Lewis’s Narnia is Bible based. As a Christian getting into fantasy writing myself, I love this.
Generally Tolkien said that LotR is "fundamentally religious and Catholic work unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision” and even Atheists from European/Christian culture tend to introduce some Christian things to book unconsciously.
Thanks for the amazing video, It really helped me to understand more better. Your an impiration to the doubts I had been having, thank you🤗👍 May God be with you and all🙏
I’m a new writer (just published my first fantasy book). It took me almost 5 years to finish 😅 the story is taking place in central Africa before colonisation. I wanted my friends to discover our culture and, at that time, there was nothing like Christianity. But I found a way to insert Christian elements in the story. 😊
From my perspective as a Christian and a fantasy reader and writer, all that matters is that you don’t contradict the scripture, and you deliver the same message. I have a Christian book in the planning stage, “the Realm Beyond”. This isn’t necessarily a Christian book, actually, but it has a lot of the same messages. It’s about a man who discovers a gateway into another world. This world is overwhelmed with violence and corruption, hatred and greed, demonic activity and sin. All of this because they rebuked their god. (Their god is our God by a different name) My protagonists journey is to bring light back into the dark world of sinners that he found himself taken to.
Great film, love it! ☺ Horror author here! My stories are quite subtle when it comes to faith - I like Tolkien's approach more than pointing directly to Jesus, which in today's world would discourage an audience. I try to promote Christian values and worldview by criticizing egocentrism, materialism, occultism, and well, self-choice in general☺
We definitely have to be subtle if we want to reach the general market-that's for sure! I don't read a lot of horror, but that sounds like a fascinating approach to the genre!!
This is blessing me. I was just thinking about the fantasy novel im writing with Angels. Fictional but I also wondered how i could do this and I came across this video. Thank you for this
POV: Me: Watches The Prince of egypt Me: hmmm dreamworks did good on this one Me: thinks* ..... "Mom do you think this is honoring to God?" My mom: Yes Me: IMMEDIATELY FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE PRINCE OF EGYPT AND CAN'T STOP SINGING THE SONGS AND HUMMING THEM**
I have written two Christian Fantasy novels and I am in the process of finalizing the third. I know that Tolkien went with a Good vs Evil theme while C.S. Lewis used analogy but they also wrote at a time when Christianity permeated Western culture in a way that it doesn't anymore. People read those books today and don't really glean the spiritual truths from them that they once did because their worldview is different. My books are more explicitly Christian. They are set in medieval Europe (an alternate Europe with knights and Vikings but also dragons and werewolves). Most (but not all) of the characters are Christians who don't preach but try to solve their problems from a Christian perspective.
Niki, all you have to do to learn about how to be a christian fantasy book author is follow the best christian fantasy book that we already have, which is the bible. It is 2,000 years old, it was written by a large collaboration of authors, and it has tons of fans and spin-offs. It is the perfect example of christian fantasy to take inspiration from.
I think that as a Christian it’s our priority to create fantasy setting that enables God’s morality to be inserted or his depiction of an encounter. All conflict to a degree is about how people treat each other, having anyway to include a higher than life scenario that teaches the lesson and symbolism to pay homage to God. If you write through a secular lens you can understand the faults of the story and insert a understanding that is originated from his morality and any morality derived can be indicative of God, and the characters can start to identify the relationship.
As a Christian and an aspiring author, I struggle with capturing a fantasy aspect of the story while honoring God's Word-which includes the command to avoid witches, soothsayers, magic, etc.…all primary examples of fantasy elements.
This is something I've struggled with for awhile, especially seeing as I'm writing Paranormal Romance involving Gods and Goddesses from our own real world and tackles things like sin, sex, love, and other adult topics. I finally prayed about it and decided to let God guide me. So far I have my outline done. Now I just need to actually get the writing down. This video was very helpful for me as well.
As a Christian writer I feel this! I feel like my faith just naturally weaves itself into my stories. Whether that’s characters questioning if god is real and which god is true, or our morals.
Hi 👋 fellow Christian here who is a newbie writer and an eye for art. I have been struggling with my own writing projects for years now so I’m glad to watch this video on RUclips. I have been working on developing a new urban fantasy novel that is based off of the anime series DNANGEL but I have added my own twist to the story. The novel was originally planned to be a series or trilogy but I have started the story over and over again so I am stuck in development hell (pardon my language). The problem is that I don’t know what to do with making my story Christian and following my creative ideas at the same time so I really needed to hear this. Thank you for sharing your story about writing as a Christian. God bless you ❤
Catholic Christian here. I write historical fiction (and historical fantasy) mixed up with mystery and murders. I know I don't want to write "christian fiction" or something like that, but I also know I can't get rid of the Catholic undertones my writing may have, since religion is a basic part of my identity. My novels focus more on exploring the moral complexity of our human nature. Since faith is in a large part rational, the definitions of morals are very much a mix of philosophy and revelation, and through philosophy you can get to the existence of a God that's good, so it comes off more as a quest for what is good instead of a sermon-like brick about Catholic morals. Great video!!!
I’m debating rn because I want to do a Christian fantasy series but it’s hard because I don’t want to bash people over the head with the gospel. But I do want to explore various topics I have seen affect my Generation-Gen Z and the rest of the youth both in and out of church, what spirits are attacking the church, and what are ways to protect ourselves against these attacks. I’m planning on using various folklore, mythologies, and legends (very loose adaptations of them anyway), as I do plan on using elves, dwarves, fairies from the Unseelie court, a black dragon (who lives in the frigid and cold north, deep within a cave) who is a background villain & also Satan, the main villain a demon wyrm called Python aka the spirit of divination and how that’s affecting the youth of today both in society as a whole and those within the church. That’s all I can say for now but generally curious where’s the line because I’m writing this to hopefully help those who are dabbling in the occult to be deprogrammed. I also plan to have this with a guidebook going further into the research I did for this book and going deeper into many of the topics I will cover. Some are issues we still see today even within churches such as lust , pride, the spirit of Jezebel, racism, etc. Where Tolkien and Lewis primarily had a focus on having their story focused on a more Old Testament version of the world; ’m going to be heavily more New Testament focused in my world. My main character will actually draw inspiration from John Newton and is a former pirate and slave trader turned pastor as well.
A good story is a good story, because good stories show the growth of humanity and the downfall of humanity. Moral extremes can be written and you can call it christ-like or devilish, but we can't assign religion to it, it should be accessible to everyone. The duality that the bible describes is great for inspiration. I have grown out of religion, considering myself more of a gnostic person, (gnostic, not agnostic), and you can see the story of duality in many great stories, a famous one is Star Wars. You can also write outside of the duality, and write about the ever expanding and improving conscience that comes from the Great conscience, which many have come to know as God.
I recently discovered the "Ravenwood Saga" trilogy from Morgan L. Busse. They're not perfect books in terms of writing technique, but they're clean, compelling, and ridiculously fun to read! At least, I think so. Plus, the author doesn't beat you over the head with Christianity the way some other Christian fantasy novels I've read do. The themes are there, and they're strong, but they're not overly blatant. If you prefer more Hallmark style romance in your life, I'd also recommend Melanie Cellier's various Four Kingdoms serieses. (Plural of series? Anybody? Ah, well). They're cheesy romance fairy-tale retellings with Christian themes, but nice and subtle so it doesn't drive you out of the story via overmuch preachiness (as some Christian fantasy novels I've read have done). There's also about 20 of them, so once you get started, you won't lack for things to read.
The Stolen Kingdom Series by Bethany Atazadeh-a series of clean, interconnected fairytale retellings with some darker/less acknowledged themes that she ultimately uses to point to Jesus.
As a Christian I'm not really a writer but I've recently started writing a sci-fi novel with fantasy elements that I've wanted to write for years. I'm putting Christian themes in the book and your video was randomly reccomended by the algorithm and seems pretty helpful so thank you
Hey Niki. I am Christian and aspiring writer. I watched your video and found it very helpful in settling a few concerns I had (i.e., can I use a dragon in a Christian based story, what will other people or more importantly, God, think, about my story, how far do I take the evil aspect in the story, etc.) so I thank you for your thoughts. However, what happened at the end of your video put me into tears. Your verse at the end, Psalm 36:5, was the EXACT verse that I wrote down today for memorization as part of my daily Bible study! I have been stalled in my writing for a long time now and have been thinking about tackling it again. This is, to me, a sign of affirmation. How does it feel to be used by the Holy Spirit? 😇 I am looking forward to watching your other videos. Blessings!
Hey! Fellow Chuck Black fan here - you just got a new sub👍. On the topic of what is ok to put in a story: A lot of Christians get hung up on whether or not to include magic. I think it is entirely up to how it is portrayed. Magic is real. The Bible also calls it witchcraft - using Satan's power to preform supernatural feats (e.g. Saul went to a witch and had her call up the spirit of Samuel). God also gives His children authority to use His power in some situations (e.g. Moses bringing down plagues on Egypt). So if your story clearly defines the good and the evil, giving both sides superhuman/supernatural powers is not wrong, or even Biblically inaccurate. Where things start to get fuzzy for me is when authors either make their magic this ambiguous 'force' which certain characters can bend to their will (with varying degrees of success), or they completely invent their own gods to rule over their worlds. I'm still not sure how I feel about inventing a god. Anyone else out there who has an opinion about it? (Also, Niki , I would recommend Jeanne DuPrau's City of Ember. Blessings!)
At the time of commenting I haven't watched through the video because the title alone caught my attention. Without being disrespectful I'd like to say that a statement like this shouldn't even be made. The video should just be "writing fantasy." There's no need to include "as a Christian." That shouldn't have anything to do with this. We all like fantasy because it's fun and cool. It doesn't have to tie into existential questions of faith and existence which is why it's nice. It can just be about a cool fire sorcerer who wants to destroy the world and the cool guy with the sword who needs to stop him. There's nothing that needs to be justified. Just write what you want. If we're talking about Christianity, your faith and actual acts in the real world are what matter, not what fantasy you write.
I feel like the title is still appropriate (feel free to disagree). A lot of the content is specifically about her inner conflict regarding narrative vs her faith and how she personally resolves that conflict, so it's less about *what* she wants to write and more about her process.
@@X24-SC21V I'm just trying to say that it seems like these people are trying to make something into an issue that really really doesn't need to be one. And sure, do what you want, it just seems incredibly unnecessary to me
I TOTALLY get how it seems unnecessary from the outside looking in. From our perspective, though, the part that seems unnecessary is actually very core to our beliefs. A RUclips content creator wouldn't run a successful channel without getting feedback from subscribers. In Christianity's purest form, a Christian creates content for an audience of one: YHWH. It's like He is the Christian's only and only Patreon supporter and subscriber. Everyone else is secondary. Does that make more sense?@@connorgregory5625
Im currently writing a sci fi and i have been going back and forth if im gonna make it christian or just clean. With other species and other worlds, im a little concerned readers would question if all these new aliens have a chance for salvation ya know? So ive been leabing toward just clean for now!
It was helpful in a way. I'm a fanfic writer and am planning my own novel. Where the worldbuilding comes in, I've based it on the first chapters of 'Genesis' and how later stories are just the effect of the minor changes I made in that. So there's Earth, then there's a parallel world where the Garden of Eden was placed as man disobeyed. (So it is hidden) There were elves whose duty/function at the time was to protect all trees, especially the tree of life and the tree of good and evil. But they didn't do so (since Adam and Eve did eat the fruit) and also received a punishment. That was just an example. There is also how I incorporated the pillar of clouds and fire, manna and other things I found insteresting to write as fantasy. However, when I read the bible and saw that there were some things that I made good or alright for others but weren’t approved (?) Of by I guess I felt intimidated. Eg. The thing about familiars and witches in Leviticus. A character (probably a self insert) is a summoner. It's not like she was calling upon the dead or something. She just wanted a mentor figure, someone, something to help her go on the right path. So I kinda got scared. But now that I typed this all out, I realized that there isn't really much to fear. It's not like I'm trying to diacredit the bible or ignore my philosophy when writing. So I'll be sure to ask God for me to write stories that are insteresting and in his light. Something that when someone reads it, they subconsciously react towards it, their spirituality with God growing as they get engrossed with my story. As many in the comments say. Christian first. But I'll always be the imaginative/artistic daughter of God. And a blessed day/night for anyone that stuck to read this rambling of mine.
In my point of view, God gave me this passion for story writing, God gave me this creativity, God gave me this ability, so I would be a fool to use it sparingly. God gave me my writing skills, so I will use them to glorify him with my works, whether they’re Christian books or not. My goal is to become an accomplished author, and then push out one or two Christian books that my fans will read, and enjoy. I already have an idea for a Christian book. It’s about a spiritually struggling (previously atheist) man who comes to know the name of God during the Rapture. It’s a horror story because of the demons that take the forms of various mythological monsters, and Leviathan, and Behemoth, all of which hunt the remaining humans on Earth.
I am writing my first book called "The Prophesied Mermaid" its about a young (little) mermaid different than all the other mermaids as she is The Prophesied Mermaid, she was raised as a normal merkid without any knowledge of her true identity as The Prophesied Mermaid, her parents didn't even know nor did family or her babysitter no it. They just thought she was a normal merkid. One day when she was taken from the park (she believed it was an abduction but in reality it was an arrest) by The Guardians Of The Prophesied Mermaid), they had taken her into custody for her protection due to her status as The Prophesied Mermaid, The Guardian who arrested her eventually told her about her status and right now she is in a prison for merkids with magical and special powers. In my story there is the Ancient Text Of The Prophesied Mermaid. Molly going to prison as an innocent young mermaid child is a sacrifice for merkind, like Jesus' death on the cross was a sacrifice for mankind. While in prison she learns about her powers and her status as The Prophesied Mermaid. The world in my story is divided between magical and non-magical merfolk, even in the magical society there is division between the merfolk with different powers. In one of the duties of The Prophesied Mermaid is to keep the balance between the mermaid world and the human world, as while as in the mermaid society (both the magical and non-magical)
Ive had problems a lot recently because a lot of aspects of my story could be seen by a lot of other Christians as anti-biblical and its been a major problem recently because there are major plots i have planned that rely on these aspects. Up till recently i havnt felt any conviction about it being wrong anz i cant really tell if these feeling ive been getting recently is because my mom started reading my book and im scared shes going to disapprove of them from her views, or if its an actual conviction from God and your video popped up randomly today so i figure this is a good place to ask for others opinion on this. If you have any advice please let me know :)
This is what I want to do, write Christian fantasy. So, love that you are doing this. But, same question as I ask everyone giving writing advice is, "what makes you an expert"?
I take the revelations and morals learned from the Bible and imprint them on fictional stories. New characters and setting provide fresh and insightful read.
I'm glad I've found this video. In my grand fantasy series I put a lot of emphasis of the goodness and triumph of the indomitable human spirit. In parts 1-3 the character of God in that universe has taken a step back and is allowing both angel kind and mortal kind to develop on their own and grow up. One of my favorite scenes to write in part 3 is a group of humans who have a piece of angel/God power argue with a group of angels who are giving up on the fight against the demon army. The angels have lost the ability to resurrect/heal themselves and are now afraid of death. However the human character points out that the fear of dying is a huge part of why their kind don't ever give up. This motivates the angels to give their powers to a bunch of mortals who have all put aside their differences in the fight against the demons. I have a lot more examples, but I'm sharing this because I love implementing the foundational truths that I know into something beautiful that isn't just an advert for church. God is good and he made us to be good.
I truly believe in writing the stories that God wants us to write. My mother was not happy to learn that I was writing a sci-fi book, but I am. I know I have the ability to write, but in order to write Christian stories, I need to have Christian ideas. I have asked God for guidance and, if He wishes me to not write said story, He can put a stop to it in one way or another. I trust Him to guide me. If He wants me to throw it all away, I will, hard as that might be. His ways are best. But, for now, He has not said no, and I write. ❤🤷♀️
I write Christian fiction. I know there r going to be characters who will be Christians and won't be. How do I decide which ones become Christians and how do I realistically convert my characters into Christians, especially if they r the antogonist
I get everything you were saying in this video 100%. My father doesn't believe Christianity and fantasy can mix, but the rest of my family (myself included) disagree. I have this being in my story that is basically God. A part of me is intimidated by this idea because "What if I make God sin by accident?" or "What was God's reasoning for doing this that or the other?"😂 I ask God every day for guidance with my story, but most definitely, with this being in particular. I'm like, "Hey, God, this thing is basically YOU. Help me to understand YOU so that I don't mess YOU up."
I'm a Christian and people say Harry Potter or Star Wars, and LOTR are demonic, and most of my dreams of books are based off those series. (LOTR has biblical stuff in it) I'm scared people are going to say my books are demonic, but there are no witches, or satanic symbols in my books. Is it okay to write fantasy with dragons, phoenixes, and like SpierWickChronicles-based stuff as a Christain?
Hi @MarianaC47! While I don't know anything about the SpiderWick Chronicles (so I can't really speak to that part of your question), I can say that I love Harry Potter, Star Wars, and LOTR and see absolutely no problem with a fantasy that involves dragons or pheonixes (both SO cool). :) It's true that many Christians still avoid sci-fi/fantasy, and they have their reasons for that conviction, which is perfectly fine. I personally see a lot of value in the genre, but we still need to be prayerful about what we include and make sure our stories ultimately promote Christ/what he stands for. It sounds like that's what you're doing, so keep it up! Give your story to God, and ask Him to help you craft something that ultimately honours Him, and find Christian sci-fi fantasy readers to bounce ideas off and hold you accountable. Also, remember that the people who dismiss LOTR, HP, and Star Wars as demonic are probably not the people you're writing for. I'm sure they're experts in the genres they read, but they're not necessarily qualified critics of what works in sci-fi/fantasy. I could walk into a five star restaurant, order the fanciest dish, and hate it because I just can't properly appreciate what goes into it-that doesn't mean the dish is bad, it just means I'm probably not the target customer. It can be really important to keep that target demographic in mind, and to plug into the Christian fantasy community! Even if you don't write Christian fantasy per se, it can be helpful to see what other Christians are reading and including in their stories. I hope that sort of helps??? I know it can be really difficult to write in this genre with the negativity surrounding it in certain Christian circles, but there are lots of Christians who believe that this genre is a powerful tool for telling important stories. I am one of them, and I am so excited for you and your story. :) If you want to chat more, feel free to shoot me a DM on Insta!
@@nikiflorica8783 Thank you, that makes me feel much better about it. I also like to write christian fiction , self-care books, and old-style christian romance books. I hope my books do well in the future. Thank you again. ❤
You mentioned a few times that you want to make sure that your stories don't contradict scripture. I'm just wondering, if it's a fictional story, how could it contradict scripture? A story is just a story. It's not meant to be taken as truth. Or to ask the question from another direction, what would it mean for a story to contradict scripture? Could you give examples? Perhaps some story decisions that you were considering, but in the end you chose a different direction because of your faith?
Hi Karl! There are a few ways to contradict Scripture with a story, at least that I've come across in my adventures so far. For one, a story could glorify or present as "good" something that is objectively wrong or harmful in God's sight. Sometimes that's blatantly obvious; sometimes it's a little harder to discern. Or, particularly in fiction with allegorical undertones, a writer might take creative liberties with the "fictional" part of the story that skew the Scriptural parts or undermine the original biblical meaning. This is especially possible if it isn't clear where the fiction ends and the Scriptural parallels begin. I've run into that problem when dabbling in allegory, especially when my own characters want to do things that would get in the way of what matters most in the Bible story I'm paralleling. Ultimately, writers don't have total control over what readers will get out of their stories: you can do everything right and still get a reader who misunderstands, after all! But as a Christian, I believe in putting extensive thought and prayer into story choices to make sure that the story as a *whole* points in an edifying and Scriptural direction. I know that's not a super cut-and-dry answer, but like so many things, it's a complex conundrum that is very individual to the writer and the story in question! Fortunately, Christians have the Spirit to guide and convict us in the creative process; and the stories that result will look different from writer to writer because different stories speak to different people-and God uses diverse writers to meet those diverse needs. I hope that helps a little?
@nikiflorica8783 Oh yeah. The morality part makes sense. I think I had just taken it for granted that the values of the author will shine through in the story. As for the allegory aspect, it sounds like an easy way to avoid that would be to simply not write biblical allegories? But if that's what you want to do, I guess this is something you have to think about. I just haven't had much interest in writing that particular kind of story.
I write horror as a Christian. It's an interesting juxtaposition and allows me to have God be very real for my main character without my readers feeling like they just got hit over the head with a sermon. In one of the first reviews I received, the reviewer wrote that it made her want to go back to Church.
Wow, that's incredible!!! It really is just . . . wow! Do you read any Ted Dekker?
@@nikiflorica8783 Thanks!! I like Ted Dekker a lot! I've read "House" and "Thr3e" and have the audio book for "Water Walker" I can't wait to listen to. Frank Peretti is also fun, but his books don't cross over to "mainstream" audiences the way Ted's do. I'm glad I found your channel. It's always great to connect with other Christian writers.
@@MediaAttorney "House" is the only one I've read! Admittedly, it did not work for me, but I'm not a horror-book gal so I was out of my element, lol! And ooooh! I didn't realize Dekker was more mainstream than Peretti! I kind of thought they were in the same league.
And I am also glad you found the channel! I'm so encouraged by the awesome things God has already done through your writing and I can't wait to hear what happens with your next projects!
My eyes filled at this 🕊️🤍🙌
I can’t remember the name of the film now, but recently a mainstream Christian horror film recently was released. I am not a horror fan myself, but I appreciate the testimonies I have heard in which people who went to see a horror film had the Holy Spirit poured out on them, people started manifesting demons, but had other people praying for their deliverance and casting the demons out.
Fellow writer here. Growing up Christian, I struggled with the fear of doing something wrong, of acting against God's plan with my choices. That fear held me back from trying things and growing. If you want to glorify God by your writing, go all out! Pour your passion into the page and write the story that is burning inside you! Don't worry about whether there's too much magic or how parallel it should be to Biblical stories. Without fear, write the story God inspires within you.
a you oready writting any book or?
@@achi_raymond Yes!
@@indiegamechris4759 if is spiritual book give me a link
Thank you so much for sharing these thoughts! I think it's great to be motivated to serve God rightly, but it doesn't need to cripple us as writers. God is the best source of inspiration, after all! "Without fear, write the story God inspires within you." I love that! Thank you again!
@@indiegamechris4759 can i see it
Something that might be quite encouraging is that c.s. lewis' views on things were constantly changing, so you'll read one book (or article or whatever) and you'll come away thinking he thought one way about something, and then years later his thoughts on it changed and that was visible in other things he wrote. It's definitely important to give ourselves (and other Christian writers... Or any writer tbh) a bit of grace for having their themes/ideas/ways of reflecting thoughts change over time in writing. I don't know if I explained that very well, but I hope that's encouraging!
I love that you brought that up, Elizabeth, because I just recently started noticing that in C.S. Lewis!! And I do find that ridiculously reassuring-we're all on a journey, we're all learning, and we all need to give each other grace. Thanks so much for those thoughts!!
Yes, totally! I can see what you said in comparing The Chronicles of Narnia with his late novel, Till we have faces. His approach to spirituality through symbolism and metaphors changed so much, and still both narratives are beautiful in their own way (though I love Till we have faces way more haha)
“I’d rather get the spiritual message right.”
I agree with you 💯. Am currently writing my first Christian fantasy series with the idea of conveying the spiritual message. Listening to you say this and backing it up with truth telling in your story resonates with me.
Finding other Christian fantasy writers is helping me with all these mixed emotions about my writing. Am glad I found your channel.
I'm so glad it was helpful to you!!! I think a lot of Christian writers struggle with this, and knowing that we're not alone can make all the difference-at least, it has for me! :D
@@nikiflorica8783 Yes! Knowing you and I are on the “same page” with this helps me understand how much alike us Christian writers are.
@@nikiflorica8783 a song of ice and fire is my favorite fantasy series because it subverts a bunch of the old fantasy tropes we know and love we all would all love to be an awesome knight fighting for justice against evil but the world is not always black and white it's a lot dark gray that's what I really like in stories cause it's more relatable like when Jamie has to choose to keep his kings guard oath to obey his king who wants to burn the entire Kingdom down with wildfire substance or save the kingdom from a terrible fate by killing the mad king aerys Targaryen the 2nd and be hated as a kingslayer forever that's why the series is interesting to me
How do you tackle the struggle of writing magic? Isn’t it evil? Shouldn’t we not write about it?
I'm trying to do the same thing! I think we as christians need to work a lot more to improve the art departament, thank you for the encouragement!
Amen to that! It's so encouraging to see how many Christians are working behind the scenes to fill our culture with good art. God is working!!
for real! the world has given creativity to lucifer. or atlest hear in the west. christains need to work on "FIRE" music and stuff. while are some fire songs they are sometimes hard to find., and most christains seem to think magicaly making a copy of something is "bad" (something jesus TOTALY would and DID do!) its buy a christain CD, or take care of God's creatures (caught possible pregnant semi feral cat)
Fellow follower of Christ here. I’ve been a youth pastor for over 25 years and just started my writing journey. I’m excited to hear more about your writing!
I've struggled with this for a long time. I think you hit the nail on the head. It's very encouraging to hear another Christian writer of fantasy talk about this in such a well-thought-out way. Thanks!
Great video! Narnia and Lord of the rings are probably the best examples of Christian fantasy literature. Narnia takes the more directly biblical approach, whereas LOTR uses Christian (or in Tolkien’s case, catholic) morality and “good vs evil” influences, in a more Celtic mythical theme. 🌿🌿
It would be fun to hear your thoughts on these two books series, in a video, especially from a Christian perspective.
Not even Christian fantasy literature, just fantasy in general
Wow that’s rlly cool ❤️
For me, I'm a Christian comic author/illustrator. I originally had trouble deciding whether or not to include things that are popular, but against my beliefs (both Christian and personal). In the end, after some prayers, I learned that if you're going to have haters no matter what you write, you should keep it aligned to your beliefs.
Yes there are characters who do commit sin (there's no conflict without at least one person doing something wrong) but I try to have my main characters learn lessons I've learned from church.
Quick note, I write fantasy comics that have lessons that align with my beliefs.
I'm a christian comic author too! And eventually I also came to your conclusion. It is most difficult to me because most mainstream comic artists are not christians, or are forced to write in non-christian worlds fully permeated with bad worldviews. And it really stands everywhere. It seems like after the early 20th century when comics started christians also started to get away from visual arts, and so its really difficult to find good stories.
Many of them are very uplifting, but stand in a bad world. Some of them are permeatted with pagan worldviews, and I'm really afraid to not bring these ideas into mine.
Oh my gosh! I’m so thankful I found your channel! I am a Christian first and writer second! I haven’t written since I got saved. I have been really feeling led to write again but I also feel led to write fiction. Thank you for this video! Don’t stop posting!
I'm so glad you found it, too!! And I absolutely hope you start writing again; it sounds like God wants to do something with your gift, so you'll have to keep me posted on how it goes! :D
Though i'm not a Christian anymore, a Christian minister once said that when god gives us a gift it is our duty to use it. To go through life and not use the gifts god gives you is as much a sin as any other.
And who wants to spend their entire life trying to deny their gifts in order to be what mortal men tell them is a good Christian only to stand before St Peter and have heaven denied to them because they refused to use the gifts god had given them to make the world better in their lifetime?
So write if writing is what god made you to do.
@@nagillim7915 i got goosebumps reading what you wrote, and it truly reached something inside of me.
I'm having problems with my hands, and sometimes it hurts so i can't write nor draw, and a few times my mom tried to imply, that maybe God gives me this pain, to tell me that i shouldn't do these things.
But i truly feel inside, that i've gotten my gifts for a reason, and this pain is not here to stop me from doing these, but to strengthen me.
(sorry for bragging here, even though noone is going to read this, it was nice to write it out. And thank you for writing your thoughts down again:)
@@annaszamborovszky8567 - if you're having problems wkth your hands as a writer get checked out for carpal tunnel syndrome if you can. If it's not too far progressed steroid injections can take the pain away completely for years.
I got mine done in 2012 and it was only last year the pain started coming back.
If it is cts, try an upright mouse and a split keyboard. I also got myself a desk that raises and lowers last year and it was one of the best things i invested in.
Niki!!! Hi, my name is Ande, I'm a Christian writer who also loves writing and writing fantasy. This video really hit home for me, and was so relatable. Thanks for being so open and forward about your faith, it's inspiring! :)
Not Niki, but I wanted to comment. I love seeing fellow Christian writers! I also loved your bio. ❤
@@beagobuzz thank you! 🤍 your channel looks so great! super excited to join your community and follow along😁
I've been working on writing a fantasy book where a lot of the characters are inspired by my church friends, so this was the perfect time for me to find the video
Great video! 😉 I know there are readers that want good, light Christian stories without hard conflict. But then there are those that enjoy the idea that light shines brighter in the dark. If you write to one or the other, there’s a reader for that! Being a Christian doesn’t mean you live in a sinless world. I agree, even if I’m not writing “Christian” stories I will both adhere to my personal values and do my best to instill those with my words (light, truth, hope, etc.) Thanks for sharing! I know there can be confusion and controversy when it comes to Spiritual beliefs.
Hey Hannah! So true -- there's a broad spectrum of convictions and even just personal tastes when it comes to light versus darkness stories, but you're right. There's an audience for both! That in itself is soooo reassuring. 😂
So happy to have found your channel today girlfriend! My journey as a writer is similair to yours in that at a younger age I discovered my love of stories and storytelling! As I got older, Christ continued to call to me and draw me closer, and me having grown up listening to C.S. Lewis' narnia books, I wanted to do something similair with my own story. That was... I think, when I was at least fifteen, maybe sixteen. My author jounrey began when I was fourteen, but my jounrey with Christ while being an aspiring auther probably began when I was sixteen. About six years later, I'm still writing the beginning of this story, but its grown so much. I've had many, and I mean many with a captical FRUSTRATING, redrawfts and starting it all over again because it just wasn't working.
Basically, I've started to pursue God a lot more the past two years, and it has made a tramendous difference in the story. Obviously I've been growing as a writer as well, but my goal for the story has always shined a little brighter. I started actaully outlining in order to tell myself the plot of this story before trying to write it all pretty in a first draft (never pretty by the way T.T), and had gotten about 40+ chapters outlined, and was at the threshold of what I intended to be the climax, only to find... the story felt, empty. I realized I'd been writing events and everything that would normally make a story good, but something crucial was missing which I couldn't pinpoint.
I left the draft to sit, going on with more focus in life like my fulltime job, and decided to take a leap in faith and get more involved at my church. God has blessed me with a good and loving family who puts Christ first, and my church fam is the exact same. I' accepted an assistant teacher possition in our very small youthgroup, and I became involved in a women's Bible Study series (Called Flourish, please do look into it) and my otherwise lukewarm faith was rekindled. As I devled more determinedly into God's Word, hearing more of His voice and seeing Him in my everyday life, I began to realize just what was missing in my story.
The past five years were spent building this story, the last one in a half being dramatic improvements as my skill in the profession grew, and I do believe God has given me these ideas and characters for the purpose of creating a story which glorifies Him, but that's just it. Near the end of 2022, I realized my entire goal for this series had dwindled. Picture a little child on a beach, wanting to build an epic sandcastle. Her dad is watching her struggle, and gives her a few of those fun shaped buckets, gives her an idea on how she can make the foundation. The girl scampers off, and kinda succeeds, but keeps getting fustrated when she can't achieve what she's aiming for. Knowing he can help, she runs back to Dad for help, and he helps her, giving her tools, ideas, and encouragement, and he even offers to help her build it. She wants it all to herself though, and so only takes the tools and encouragement, but is trying to accompish his idea. She can try all she wants, but she won't achieve what she's looking for without his help (very good at building and repairing things, her father is ^^). Finally, realizing what she wants can't be attained by her own skills alone, the girl asks if her father will sit down in the sand, and help her build this epic sandcastle. Overjoyed to be apart of it, her father takes her hand, and they get to work.
To sum it up, I realized I was aiming for all the right things, but God was missing in this story. I didn't scrap the outline I had built up, but instead, I dropped it all in a folder, and started a new one with this new mindset at the front of it all. I'm realizing the story (stories actually, I have quite a few planned) I'm making is going to take a lot more effort than others, because as some people have already commented, as Christians, we have to align what we're putting out into the world with what God wants and calls for us to do. I could go on all day, but basically I'm in desperate need for peeps who write or read fantasy, and are strong Christians and actively pursuiting Christ. If only I could have a day or so to talk to people like C.S. Lewis and hear how he did it, and what he'd recomend. I lost sight of the true goal and meaning of this story once, and I really don't want to loose it again by hording the story to my own concepts. If you've made it this far, thank you so much for coming to my TED talk XD
Oh, my goodness, you have made my night!!! Thank you so much for your TED talk (lol!!) and for taking the time to share your journey with me. I relate on so many levels and I am thrilled to hear that God has breathed meaning into your story and into your spiritual life, as well! Oh, if only we could talk to C.S. Lewis... I think I'd need, like, six months to ask all the questions I have. 😅 It doesn't sound like you need him, though-your sandcastle metaphor is on point! Lewis would be proud. :)
Please, please keep me updated on your story!!! And if you ever want to chat, feel free to DM me on Instagram (@nikifloricawrites) or on Facebook at Niki Florica. I really believe that Christian fantasy writers need to support each other. :)
God bless, sister!!
@@nikiflorica8783 thank you so much! Unfortunately all I got is discord 😭
Wow! Amazing testimony there, sister! It actually made me tear up. Tbh, your journey in faith and writing sounds a LOT like mine!
Ever since I was a little kid, I loved to write. But the call to serious writing to glorify Christ came at 13/14. (Same age.😁)
The call hit me hard during a dark time in my life. A big thing I struggle with is cynicism, largely because I've been burned by quite a few people. There was a time where I, wrongly, allowed that to taint my view of God. I was a Christian at 14, yes, but I was definitely doubting the goodness of God and the reality of hope.
The loving and merciful Father that He is, He fixed my eyes and clarified things to me in a powerful way. He reminded me of the truth, and I soon could not wallow in my despair, especially since Hope is a Person (God).
That same time, He breathed new life into my love for writing. He solidified the seed that He'd planted in me through the likes of CS Lewis, who I'd just love to have a sit down with as well.😁
My first novel length story was born out of the lesson that God gave me at 14--that hope is never lost on this side of eternity. And, alongside my question of, "What if I write a story about aliens (it's a sci-fi war story) but with biblical themes?"
God handed me just the perfect theme.
That story has turned into a pretty lengthy series.😅 Seven years later, it's still unfinished (I have a lot of other projects too), but someday when/if it's published, I truly hope that it touches at least one person to never give up on hope and find faith in God. Yes, things may look bleak, but we serve an awesome God Who can turn any--and I mean ANY--situation for the better and His glory.
This year in particular, I had to learn this lesson the hard way again. (I tend to need reminders a lot, but I'm so grateful that God is patient and merciful with me.)
Twice, I tried to quit because I was letting my cynicism take a hold of me again when stress mounted up. Both times, God went to great and powerful lengths to call me back. (I can relate to Jonah quite a bit now.)
He's used the words of other people, music, His own Word...Wow. I never cease to be amazed.
As I write, including my sci-fi and fantasy that I'm so excited about, I hope to do nothing less than glorify the God Who saved my soul and my life.
This was really encouraging to read, thank you for sharing your journey with all of us! Just what I needed to read at 4 AM when I was getting into my own head and losing sight of where I should be, this brought me back! God be praised! Thank you for this my dear!
2:48. As an atheist - I think we can all agree that the prince of egypt is awesome, the soundtrack is amazing and as a whole the movie is great. I'm also lucky that I got to hear it in Hebrew since I know Hebrew (I'm from Israel 🇮🇱), and the voice actors in Hebrew had to do it really good because the story of moses is important in Jewish culture as well (maybe to Jews even more than Christians since we have a whole holiday of 2 weeks on the story of moses getting the Israelites out of egypt).
P.S
Yes, you can be an atheist jew. Judaism considers you a jew based on your parents, not beliefs. Even the ultra-orthodox jews (Kharedim) see secular and atheist jews as jews.
P.S P.S
In Israel secular and atheist are two different things:
Secular meaning you don't live according to the halakha (like you eat pork, don't keep the shabath, etc.). So you can believe but still eat prok, and then you are a secular believer jew.
Atheist means you don't belive in any deity.
As a born again Christian reinventing myself as a content creator, I can really resonate with your struggles at finding balance between portraying truth and keeping the story interesting. I think so long as you have morals in the story that represents what God expects out of all of us, then it shouldn't matter how you tell the story.
Having a theological consultant is super wise of you to do so praise God for that and I think I’m gonna do that as well thanks be to Jesus amen 🙏
Let me know how it goes for you! I think everyone should have one, honestly, lol!
Back in my Freshman year of high school, I decided to create an anthology revolving around dinosaurs fighting for survival but it had a twist where they also fought against paranormal spirits. It was an allegory for spiritual warfare and the spirit’s fight against the flesh, but of course, this was one of my first attempts at implementing my faith in my writing and a lot of people could tell it had christian undertones :,). I’m hoping to improve it now by turning it into a ttrpg system so people could not have the spiritual warfare handed to them but have them really dig into the story’s lore to find it.
I’m writing a 13 part Christian allegorical fantasy series called The Banner of The Broken Cross. It shall be epic. in the middle of outlining in detail the third book. i want the whole series to be finished before final publication. Releasing one book a year.
I definitely went on this journey, too! I had always known I wanted to write and though I grew up in a Christian home, it wasn't until I fully accepted Christ myself that I wanted to do it to glorify Him instead of myself.
So, the first five years of this path led me to write a novel under Christian historical fiction (a story I love dearly). The characters, setting, and period have a soft spot in my heart, but after finishing multiple drafts (and prayer), I decided to set it aside. Maybe I'll pick it up again, but the way I wrote it wasn't in MY voice. It was a serious work with a lot of grief which is important, but when writing it, I often felt more burnt-out than inspired. So, I set it aside to focus on projects that bring me joy and feel like it brings life.
And then, I started writing a sci-fi comedy.
At first, I wanted to slap Christianity into it, but as I've been on my writing journey, I found that it would take away from the plot and momentum, feeling preachy instead of telling an important story. And God has been showing me that I can incorporate faith in other ways. With a year of bible college under my belt, I learned a lot of cool historical things as well as taking 10 credit hours of Greek. I was able to mirror different biblical and historical events (like the diaspora and exile as well as the exodus) and tell it from a relatable point of view. Instead of blatantly making Christianity a part of it, I instead talk about faith, conformity, truth, and justice from the perspective of a Christian. I even try to show both sides of important issues like immigration and racism but in the lens of a whole different galaxy. And then, as someone who lives and breathes goofiness and jokes, made it funny to lighten the load.
I know this is long, but it makes me glad that God has taken not only me on this journey because for the beginning I felt shame from others for not writing blatantly Christian work. But as an evangelist, I'd rather reach the lost than please my peers, and sometimes you start small. You start by offering new perspectives--perspectives from biblical stances, to share the beauty of God's love, truth, and grace. :) Super glad I found your channel and look forward to seeing more of you and your writing adventure!
Thank you this video. For my fantasy I have taken my MC from light to dark. Then my plan is to bring him back out. Showing a person can come from, out of the dark back to the light.
Cool! I really like that! And it's not like that doesn't happen-some people's spiritual journeys do look like that, and I think the important thing is getting back to the light.
@@nikiflorica8783 yup. Its important.
Thanks for the vid! You've helped me realize I need to glorify God more in my stories. Seeing that I wasn't the only one who wrestled with this was comforting.
You're definitely not the only one! I still struggle to navigate this sometimes, but knowing that other writers are on the same journey can be very encouraging, I've found. 😅
Im a Christian, but writing an extreme horror Dark Fantasy book.
Write what you want to write, God gave us freewill, writing a book not based off Christianity isnt a sin
I'm currently writing a story about two people who were fatefully paired together (obviously from God), but I'm not going to explicitly say that. The characters think about God throughout the story through brief prayers and that sort of thing, and to me, that's enough. I don't want to force religion down my readers' throats, but I want that idea to be present.
This video helps a lot! Thank you!
thanks so much for speaking on this topic + for emphasizing the nuance of this conversation! recently, i was listening to a The Christian Publishing Show podcast + the conversation was about worldview, specifically how this has the biggest influence on the stories we tell. they were saying that fantasy is the best space to convey a christian worldview to readers (in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways) because of all the components of the genre (ex: world building, themes, tropes). this really spoke to me because this is yet another way that we can honour Christ with our writing - and it honestly comes so naturally to us! our worldview really guides the art we create.
That's exactly how I feel! You can do things with fantasy that just don't work in other genres because they come off as really on-the-nose in a real-world context. I love our genre!!!!
Hello, I'm a fellow writer of Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror, and I am also a Christian. I don't think of my work as Christian fiction, nor do I set out write Christian themes in my stories, but they often come up as a consequence of my aiming for authenticity and depth. For Fantasy in particular, my inspiration stems less from the D&D and Tolkien inspired secondary world stories you tend to see on the shelves of most book stories and more from the body of myth and folklore that inspired this genre in the first place. What I invariably find is that religion deeply informs and inhabits the cultural milieu these stories were originally told in, and so avoiding it is impossible.
My last published story, entitled "The Hanged Man of Elendorf", appeared in a vampire-themed anthology put out by Dragon Soul Press entitled "To Hunt and to Hold", which was published at the end of September. It's brutal and bloody, as befits the genre I was writing for, but it is also deeply and uncompromisingly Christian in its ethos.
I absolutely love this message. I too struggled with writing while walking on religious eggshells
I'm so glad it resonated with you!! I still struggle with it sometimes, but it's so encouraging to see Christians pushing through this to write powerful stories!
i would think the ultimate CREATOR, would be more CREATIVE than ssatan, but seems humans have given for most part creativity to satan, look at "worldly art" and "Christain art" or atlest hear in the west the "Christan art" is predictable, and the "worldly art" is if its "modern" and not if its "classical" well seems same for christain art when look at OLD christain art its CREATIVE, and christan art OUTSIDE the west is ofton creative.
I really liked this video. I’ve been writing since I was ten years old on multiple different stories and a lot of fanfiction, and I love incorporating Jesus and how He’s taken care of me and taught me. Right now I’m writing a Sleeping Beauty retelling (the 1959 cartoon from Disney was one of my favorite movies as a child), and it’s very much inspired by Norse mythology, as well as a culmination of several different genres. I like how you talk about the many different ways to glorify Jesus, which is all I’ve ever wanted to do. It’s very refreshing to see someone talk about what I’ve been thinking and feeling for years. Thank you! :)
The Lord of the Rings is a great example of a story that has Christian undertones.
SUCH a great story!!!
More like cs Lewis is way closer tolkien though strong Christian undertones catholic, has way more references to norse or Celtics
@@zodlord5669Tolkien introduced C.S. Lewis to the lord you know, he was an atheist before his influence
@@zodlord5669 Tolkien's work are Christian. The themes of temptation, resurrection, Saviour and Providence are everywhere. The pagan elements are tools just C.S Lewis' pagan elements.
Catholic ones, actually.
Thank you very much for this video. This video came up in my feed today, and I had to watch it because I am going through the same thing right now. God's timing is incredible.
I am also a Christian and a writer, and 53 years old, and I don't think I have had this explained as well as you did in this video. I'm writing a fantasy series, planned for seven books. Like the Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe, I have some symbolism in my book. In C.S Lewis's novels, the lion was Jesus. I have a Pool of Light in my books that represent God.
But sometimes I struggle. Like, I have magic in my world, and it took me a while to realize that I'm not condoning the use of magic just because I write about it. After all, God didn't condone multiple wives, but people did it anyways. I think I'm ok if I don't contradict scriptures and if I adhere to Christrian values and glorify God. Right?
Thank you again. Did you ever publish your book?
Thank you. I’m thinking of writing a contemporary fantasy novel,. I loved Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti as a young adult. You’re so inspiring. It isn’t easy finding fiction Christian writing tips
Thank the Lord! I'm glad it's helpful to you. And oh man, I loved Frank Peretti's "This Present Darkness" when I read it as a YA. Ted Dekker's Circle Series character, Elyon, really impacted me, too.
I hope you do write that contemporary fantasy!!
Yeah, I think it’s important to represent the theology of God's Word, but as long as the ideas agree, the story can be something different. I appreciate what you said about how the people who have a problem with basic fantasy aspects (dragons, magic) probably aren't going to read my fantasy book anyway. That's helpful to remember. 😊
Exactly! We don't have to please everyone with one story... just God. :)
Even though it's blasphemy to slap in the same God as the bible, it's better to have a protagonist who has the behaviour and lifestyle of a Christian
I made a story that I absolutely adored before I truly devoted my life to Christ. Now I’m overhauling it to glorify Him and point back to Him. Still, it has some really dark themes. I know that God will show me how to work out his Grace love and guidance in demonstration through those character’s stories but I’m worried that it will bring on the ever asked question of why would God allow these people to suffer? I understand that that can be asked on any hardship or trial but certain parts of my characters backgrounds are really dark and the prevalence of them in my story may make people ask that more. The story ultimately has them as the protagonists but still. Thoughts?
Hi Anna! First of all, can I just say I LOVE what you are doing-turning your passion project into an act of worship like that. Amazing! Without knowing your story very well, I don't want to advise you too much. What I can say is that I have characters who have suffered extreme darkness as well, but ultimately find the light and see the meaning in what they endured. Suffering happens in the real world, and some people who suffer the most find the most joy in Christ on the other side of that pain. I don't see a need to shy away from that in our writing, if that makes sense? God can work through suffering to bring about great things, and that could be something your reader really needs to see. I hope that's relevant!
Hi.
The one thing that is missing from the whole discussion about fantasy is the fact that the most famous authors in the genre are/were religious/spiritual. J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, J.K. Rowling, George Lucas (yes, Star Wars is fantasy, I will die on that hill) created works that were heavily inspired by their conviction in higher power - and this is what essentialy the genre is about, a higher power. I myself am no christian, if I had to put a label on myself I'd say I'm a buddhist and I'm certain that if I publish anything in the future it's going to be a story conveying buddhist message. I have seen a video from the channel Pilgrim's Pass talking about how science fiction is religious, worth watching.
I found this really encouraging. I feel like my creativity shackles have been removed! Thank you
Thank you for this video, I suffer from a lot of mental health issues; part of it is that I become paralyzed with second guesses and fears over if I'm doing things that honor God. I love to write, it's my only productive skill but I am super bad at writing Christian allegories they come out cheap and cheesy and I feel as though they insult God in a way. So I write regular fantasy and sometimes i get worried about it. this video helped me so much.
God bless
I'm so glad it was helpful for you, and I'm so sorry that you have to deal with those extra burdens. Writing is hard enough without those added struggles, so I will pray for God's continued inspiration, strength, and healing in your life as you keep moving forward with your writing journey. I can't wait to see the stories you come up with! God bless!!
This was an excellent exploration of Christian responsibility in creativity and I thank you for your insights. I'm just getting started on my second novel (scifi-urban fantasy) and so far the live bird analogy has really held true. If you hold onto your allegory to hard, you squish it, it cannot sing, and is near to death. I find that I have to be willing to let the same thing represent different things in each chapter or perhaps even sentence to sentence. First off as a Christian you have to trust the spirit to guide people's heart on whatever level He knows is best. Trying to write without that trust is like trying to evangelize, you might as well be talking about the tooth fairy if not for the spirit teaching and softening those He can. I also think its important that you allow Christ figures to be just that, rather than perfect characters who if real would be Christ himself and no figure. Joseph, Abraham, Issac, Moses, Joshua, and so many others were Christ figures and yet they were imperfect. You must be also be willing to let your Christ figures be finite in their power as was every biblical Christ figure. The fact that they do not wield the full power of God and cannot call down ten legions of angels if they so desire makes them a Christ figure in the biblical style and not a failure on your part as a writer.
You pointed out a lot of things ive experienced especially the balance because I had felt I would have to be overtly christian or else id be in the wrong or sinning, but now im finding my sweet spot where im still being inspired by God by the Bible with the stories im creating.
I'm glad I found this video. That voiced a lot of my same struggles with writing. The Prince Warriors series by Priscilla Shirer and Gina Detwiler, The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, and The Seven Sleepers series by Gilbert Morris are all great Christian fantasy. As a Christian girl who loves to read and write, I'm constantly looking for more books like theirs.
Wow, I've been hearing so much about Wingfeather lately, but I've never heard of those other series! Exciting!! Thank you for those recommendations, and definitely keep me posted if you find more like these. :) Do you enjoy any of Chuck Black's books?
@@nikiflorica8783 I don't believe I've read any of his works before.
@@nikiflorica8783 I've never read any of his works. 😊
"Some people are afraid of how many darkness you can put on your (good vs evil) story". I have had some comments like that before. In my church they were actually so discouraging that i ended up making up a pen name and i don't tell my brothers and sisters in faith that i write. But here's the thing: I never had the courage to say this, but i always thought "Does your God need to be protected from a too strong evil? ¡Because i looked for Jesus because i needed Him to protect ME from my demons, and those were Lovecraftian size! He doesn't need me to protect Him from going into the ring with the absolutely worst my mind can imagine. He actually laughs at it and says that if He can redeem me from my absolute worst, then ¡He already defeated the worst my mind can come up with!
I'm so sorry that you experienced such negative feedback there. That must have been so discouraging, but I love where you landed! We serve a really big God, and yes, some audiences may be deterred from the darkness in your story, but other readers who have experienced true darkness may NEED to see how Jesus redeems it. At the end of the day, if you're writing for his glory, he will use it to reach the right people. Thank you so much for sharing your experience!!
I think you have the correct mentality: focusing on the spiritual aspects (themes) and write about that in your own way rather than strictly following the old stories beat for beat. The message and having tge characters embody values is more important. A hero that has clear desires and values or learns clear lessons is more gripping.
Thank you for your insight! These are questions that I'm trying to think through, and I appreciate your thoughts and example.
This was so helpful to me! Thanks for talking through this and sharing it.
Just found your channel and I’m so glad I did !!
Me too! Welcome, Imani!!
10 year old Niki was surprisingly creative.
same here, Christian first, writer (and everything else) second
however dark my stories can get, I'll always try to spread a message of hope, love and freedom c:
Where would you sit on writing ‘clean’ vs writing ‘clean Christian’? Personally I have a desire to write stories that show case healthy love relationships that combat the culture understanding of what it is now. Ex not portray the man as dumb or necessary evil but the strong leader God intended them to be. I wish there was more books that were clean that portrayed Gods love in relationships better but it not necessarily have to fit within a certain Christian worldview. I LOVE fantasy! I have been inspired by CS Lewis and JR Tolkien. The worlds they built show Gods creativity but they didn’t blatantly show Gods redemptive story. I think there is a space for showing our creativity while also showing principles God asks us to live by. Just a thought/wondering ❤ So happy to have found this video it was extremely well done, articulate and professional!
I write Christian horror, as an Orthodox Christian (I have even a bachelor degree in theology). Indeed, lately, my works have become a fusion between horror and fantasy and I tried to express how fantasy and horror can work together in having a clear Christian sense. The latest work was pretty hard to work but I think I managed to present some serious real life Christian issues and situations through the fantasy framework. Perhaps self-promo would be ok?
Really good points! Inspired!
ive been trying to write a book for ten years but there's always this conviction I have because I'm a Christian and its hard not to get caught up in trying to stay more worldly then Christian. if that makes sense.
2:44 I, too, listen to that soundtrack & (occasionally) cry. Such a great movie & soundtrack.
Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are great Christian writers of fantasy. Tolkien is probably the father of fantasy writing and I love the fact that he was a devout Christian. Most of Lewis’s Narnia is Bible based. As a Christian getting into fantasy writing myself, I love this.
Generally Tolkien said that LotR is "fundamentally religious and Catholic work unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision” and even Atheists from European/Christian culture tend to introduce some Christian things to book unconsciously.
Thanks for the amazing video, It really helped me to understand more better. Your an impiration to the doubts I had been having, thank you🤗👍
May God be with you and all🙏
I'm so glad it spoke to you!! God is so good, and He always finds ways to inspire us when we need it, doesn't He? I need it all the time!
@@nikiflorica8783 Yes, absolutely true🙏
I’m a new writer (just published my first fantasy book). It took me almost 5 years to finish 😅 the story is taking place in central Africa before colonisation.
I wanted my friends to discover our culture and, at that time, there was nothing like Christianity.
But I found a way to insert Christian elements in the story. 😊
That sounds awesome! Congratulations! May I ask what it's called??
@@nikiflorica8783
“La légende de Zanguli” (sounds like “The legend of Zelda” 😝)
It’s in French, not translated yet. I hope I could do that this year.
From my perspective as a Christian and a fantasy reader and writer, all that matters is that you don’t contradict the scripture, and you deliver the same message.
I have a Christian book in the planning stage, “the Realm Beyond”.
This isn’t necessarily a Christian book, actually, but it has a lot of the same messages.
It’s about a man who discovers a gateway into another world. This world is overwhelmed with violence and corruption, hatred and greed, demonic activity and sin.
All of this because they rebuked their god. (Their god is our God by a different name)
My protagonists journey is to bring light back into the dark world of sinners that he found himself taken to.
This is a good reminder that not everyone will read or watch my content thanks for posting sis God bless you in Jesus name
I'm so glad it was helpful! Praise God. :)
Great film, love it! ☺ Horror author here! My stories are quite subtle when it comes to faith - I like Tolkien's approach more than pointing directly to Jesus, which in today's world would discourage an audience. I try to promote Christian values and worldview by criticizing egocentrism, materialism, occultism, and well, self-choice in general☺
We definitely have to be subtle if we want to reach the general market-that's for sure! I don't read a lot of horror, but that sounds like a fascinating approach to the genre!!
This is blessing me. I was just thinking about the fantasy novel im writing with Angels. Fictional but I also wondered how i could do this and I came across this video. Thank you for this
POV:
Me: Watches The Prince of egypt
Me: hmmm dreamworks did good on this one
Me: thinks* ..... "Mom do you think this is honoring to God?"
My mom: Yes
Me: IMMEDIATELY FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE PRINCE OF EGYPT AND CAN'T STOP SINGING THE SONGS AND HUMMING THEM**
Oh my goodness, I LOVE the PoE!! Still a favourite of mine! Never gets old :)
I have written two Christian Fantasy novels and I am in the process of finalizing the third. I know that Tolkien went with a Good vs Evil theme while C.S. Lewis used analogy but they also wrote at a time when Christianity permeated Western culture in a way that it doesn't anymore. People read those books today and don't really glean the spiritual truths from them that they once did because their worldview is different. My books are more explicitly Christian. They are set in medieval Europe (an alternate Europe with knights and Vikings but also dragons and werewolves). Most (but not all) of the characters are Christians who don't preach but try to solve their problems from a Christian perspective.
Niki, all you have to do to learn about how to be a christian fantasy book author is follow the best christian fantasy book that we already have, which is the bible. It is 2,000 years old, it was written by a large collaboration of authors, and it has tons of fans and spin-offs. It is the perfect example of christian fantasy to take inspiration from.
I think that as a Christian it’s our priority to create fantasy setting that enables God’s morality to be inserted or his depiction of an encounter. All conflict to a degree is about how people treat each other, having anyway to include a higher than life scenario that teaches the lesson and symbolism to pay homage to God. If you write through a secular lens you can understand the faults of the story and insert a understanding that is originated from his morality and any morality derived can be indicative of God, and the characters can start to identify the relationship.
Aunt Sue wouldn’t let you tell her how to cook. Don’t let her tell you how to write.
😂
I am wondering if you have read the relatively new fantasy series, The Wingfeather Saga by noted worship musician Andrew Petersen?
I'm seeing it everywhere! Do you recommend?
I’ve only read a very little, but it seems interesting!
As a Christian and an aspiring author, I struggle with capturing a fantasy aspect of the story while honoring God's Word-which includes the command to avoid witches, soothsayers, magic, etc.…all primary examples of fantasy elements.
Yeah i kinda commented that myself
This is something I've struggled with for awhile, especially seeing as I'm writing Paranormal Romance involving Gods and Goddesses from our own real world and tackles things like sin, sex, love, and other adult topics.
I finally prayed about it and decided to let God guide me. So far I have my outline done. Now I just need to actually get the writing down. This video was very helpful for me as well.
As a Christian writer I feel this! I feel like my faith just naturally weaves itself into my stories. Whether that’s characters questioning if god is real and which god is true, or our morals.
Hi 👋 fellow Christian here who is a newbie writer and an eye for art. I have been struggling with my own writing projects for years now so I’m glad to watch this video on RUclips. I have been working on developing a new urban fantasy novel that is based off of the anime series DNANGEL but I have added my own twist to the story. The novel was originally planned to be a series or trilogy but I have started the story over and over again so I am stuck in development hell (pardon my language). The problem is that I don’t know what to do with making my story Christian and following my creative ideas at the same time so I really needed to hear this. Thank you for sharing your story about writing as a Christian. God bless you ❤
I'm going though that myself, writing a good vs. evil military sci fantasy with biblical elements rooted in it.
Catholic Christian here. I write historical fiction (and historical fantasy) mixed up with mystery and murders. I know I don't want to write "christian fiction" or something like that, but I also know I can't get rid of the Catholic undertones my writing may have, since religion is a basic part of my identity. My novels focus more on exploring the moral complexity of our human nature. Since faith is in a large part rational, the definitions of morals are very much a mix of philosophy and revelation, and through philosophy you can get to the existence of a God that's good, so it comes off more as a quest for what is good instead of a sermon-like brick about Catholic morals. Great video!!!
I’m debating rn because I want to do a Christian fantasy series but it’s hard because I don’t want to bash people over the head with the gospel. But I do want to explore various topics I have seen affect my Generation-Gen Z and the rest of the youth both in and out of church, what spirits are attacking the church, and what are ways to protect ourselves against these attacks. I’m planning on using various folklore, mythologies, and legends (very loose adaptations of them anyway), as I do plan on using elves, dwarves, fairies from the Unseelie court, a black dragon (who lives in the frigid and cold north, deep within a cave) who is a background villain & also Satan, the main villain a demon wyrm called Python aka the spirit of divination and how that’s affecting the youth of today both in society as a whole and those within the church. That’s all I can say for now but generally curious where’s the line because I’m writing this to hopefully help those who are dabbling in the occult to be deprogrammed. I also plan to have this with a guidebook going further into the research I did for this book and going deeper into many of the topics I will cover. Some are issues we still see today even within churches such as lust , pride, the spirit of Jezebel, racism, etc. Where Tolkien and Lewis primarily had a focus on having their story focused on a more Old Testament version of the world; ’m going to be heavily more New Testament focused in my world. My main character will actually draw inspiration from John Newton and is a former pirate and slave trader turned pastor as well.
A good story is a good story, because good stories show the growth of humanity and the downfall of humanity. Moral extremes can be written and you can call it christ-like or devilish, but we can't assign religion to it, it should be accessible to everyone. The duality that the bible describes is great for inspiration. I have grown out of religion, considering myself more of a gnostic person, (gnostic, not agnostic), and you can see the story of duality in many great stories, a famous one is Star Wars. You can also write outside of the duality, and write about the ever expanding and improving conscience that comes from the Great conscience, which many have come to know as God.
I recently discovered the "Ravenwood Saga" trilogy from Morgan L. Busse. They're not perfect books in terms of writing technique, but they're clean, compelling, and ridiculously fun to read! At least, I think so. Plus, the author doesn't beat you over the head with Christianity the way some other Christian fantasy novels I've read do. The themes are there, and they're strong, but they're not overly blatant.
If you prefer more Hallmark style romance in your life, I'd also recommend Melanie Cellier's various Four Kingdoms serieses. (Plural of series? Anybody? Ah, well). They're cheesy romance fairy-tale retellings with Christian themes, but nice and subtle so it doesn't drive you out of the story via overmuch preachiness (as some Christian fantasy novels I've read have done). There's also about 20 of them, so once you get started, you won't lack for things to read.
The Stolen Kingdom Series by Bethany Atazadeh-a series of clean, interconnected fairytale retellings with some darker/less acknowledged themes that she ultimately uses to point to Jesus.
I will have to look into that one!
As a Christian I'm not really a writer but I've recently started writing a sci-fi novel with fantasy elements that I've wanted to write for years. I'm putting Christian themes in the book and your video was randomly reccomended by the algorithm and seems pretty helpful so thank you
Haven't read much yet but how about Katherine Kurtz?
This is a wonderful video thank you. X
Hey Niki. I am Christian and aspiring writer. I watched your video and found it very helpful in settling a few concerns I had (i.e., can I use a dragon in a Christian based story, what will other people or more importantly, God, think, about my story, how far do I take the evil aspect in the story, etc.) so I thank you for your thoughts. However, what happened at the end of your video put me into tears. Your verse at the end, Psalm 36:5, was the EXACT verse that I wrote down today for memorization as part of my daily Bible study! I have been stalled in my writing for a long time now and have been thinking about tackling it again. This is, to me, a sign of affirmation. How does it feel to be used by the Holy Spirit? 😇 I am looking forward to watching your other videos. Blessings!
Hey! Fellow Chuck Black fan here - you just got a new sub👍.
On the topic of what is ok to put in a story: A lot of Christians get hung up on whether or not to include magic. I think it is entirely up to how it is portrayed.
Magic is real. The Bible also calls it witchcraft - using Satan's power to preform supernatural feats (e.g. Saul went to a witch and had her call up the spirit of Samuel). God also gives His children authority to use His power in some situations (e.g. Moses bringing down plagues on Egypt). So if your story clearly defines the good and the evil, giving both sides superhuman/supernatural powers is not wrong, or even Biblically inaccurate.
Where things start to get fuzzy for me is when authors either make their magic this ambiguous 'force' which certain characters can bend to their will (with varying degrees of success), or they completely invent their own gods to rule over their worlds. I'm still not sure how I feel about inventing a god. Anyone else out there who has an opinion about it?
(Also, Niki , I would recommend Jeanne DuPrau's City of Ember. Blessings!)
i’m writing fantasy now but working on supernatural thriller too
At the time of commenting I haven't watched through the video because the title alone caught my attention. Without being disrespectful I'd like to say that a statement like this shouldn't even be made. The video should just be "writing fantasy." There's no need to include "as a Christian." That shouldn't have anything to do with this. We all like fantasy because it's fun and cool. It doesn't have to tie into existential questions of faith and existence which is why it's nice. It can just be about a cool fire sorcerer who wants to destroy the world and the cool guy with the sword who needs to stop him. There's nothing that needs to be justified. Just write what you want. If we're talking about Christianity, your faith and actual acts in the real world are what matter, not what fantasy you write.
I feel like the title is still appropriate (feel free to disagree). A lot of the content is specifically about her inner conflict regarding narrative vs her faith and how she personally resolves that conflict, so it's less about *what* she wants to write and more about her process.
@@X24-SC21V I'm just trying to say that it seems like these people are trying to make something into an issue that really really doesn't need to be one. And sure, do what you want, it just seems incredibly unnecessary to me
I TOTALLY get how it seems unnecessary from the outside looking in. From our perspective, though, the part that seems unnecessary is actually very core to our beliefs. A RUclips content creator wouldn't run a successful channel without getting feedback from subscribers. In Christianity's purest form, a Christian creates content for an audience of one: YHWH. It's like He is the Christian's only and only Patreon supporter and subscriber. Everyone else is secondary. Does that make more sense?@@connorgregory5625
Im currently writing a sci fi and i have been going back and forth if im gonna make it christian or just clean. With other species and other worlds, im a little concerned readers would question if all these new aliens have a chance for salvation ya know? So ive been leabing toward just clean for now!
It was helpful in a way. I'm a fanfic writer and am planning my own novel.
Where the worldbuilding comes in, I've based it on the first chapters of 'Genesis' and how later stories are just the effect of the minor changes I made in that.
So there's Earth, then there's a parallel world where the Garden of Eden was placed as man disobeyed. (So it is hidden)
There were elves whose duty/function at the time was to protect all trees, especially the tree of life and the tree of good and evil.
But they didn't do so (since Adam and Eve did eat the fruit) and also received a punishment.
That was just an example.
There is also how I incorporated the pillar of clouds and fire, manna and other things I found insteresting to write as fantasy.
However, when I read the bible and saw that there were some things that I made good or alright for others but weren’t approved (?) Of by I guess I felt intimidated.
Eg. The thing about familiars and witches in Leviticus.
A character (probably a self insert) is a summoner. It's not like she was calling upon the dead or something. She just wanted a mentor figure, someone, something to help her go on the right path.
So I kinda got scared.
But now that I typed this all out, I realized that there isn't really much to fear. It's not like I'm trying to diacredit the bible or ignore my philosophy when writing.
So I'll be sure to ask God for me to write stories that are insteresting and in his light. Something that when someone reads it, they subconsciously react towards it, their spirituality with God growing as they get engrossed with my story.
As many in the comments say. Christian first. But I'll always be the imaginative/artistic daughter of God.
And a blessed day/night for anyone that stuck to read this rambling of mine.
In my point of view, God gave me this passion for story writing, God gave me this creativity, God gave me this ability, so I would be a fool to use it sparingly.
God gave me my writing skills, so I will use them to glorify him with my works, whether they’re Christian books or not.
My goal is to become an accomplished author, and then push out one or two Christian books that my fans will read, and enjoy.
I already have an idea for a Christian book.
It’s about a spiritually struggling (previously atheist) man who comes to know the name of God during the Rapture.
It’s a horror story because of the demons that take the forms of various mythological monsters, and Leviathan, and Behemoth, all of which hunt the remaining humans on Earth.
I am writing my first book called "The Prophesied Mermaid" its about a young (little) mermaid different than all the other mermaids as she is The Prophesied Mermaid, she was raised as a normal merkid without any knowledge of her true identity as The Prophesied Mermaid, her parents didn't even know nor did family or her babysitter no it. They just thought she was a normal merkid.
One day when she was taken from the park (she believed it was an abduction but in reality it was an arrest) by The Guardians Of The Prophesied Mermaid), they had taken her into custody for her protection due to her status as The Prophesied Mermaid, The Guardian who arrested her eventually told her about her status and right now she is in a prison for merkids with magical and special powers.
In my story there is the Ancient Text Of The Prophesied Mermaid. Molly going to prison as an innocent young mermaid child is a sacrifice for merkind, like Jesus' death on the cross was a sacrifice for mankind.
While in prison she learns about her powers and her status as The Prophesied Mermaid.
The world in my story is divided between magical and non-magical merfolk, even in the magical society there is division between the merfolk with different powers.
In one of the duties of The Prophesied Mermaid is to keep the balance between the mermaid world and the human world, as while as in the mermaid society (both the magical and non-magical)
Ive had problems a lot recently because a lot of aspects of my story could be seen by a lot of other Christians as anti-biblical and its been a major problem recently because there are major plots i have planned that rely on these aspects.
Up till recently i havnt felt any conviction about it being wrong anz i cant really tell if these feeling ive been getting recently is because my mom started reading my book and im scared shes going to disapprove of them from her views, or if its an actual conviction from God and your video popped up randomly today so i figure this is a good place to ask for others opinion on this.
If you have any advice please let me know :)
INteresting possition! Whats your take on C.S.Lewis? As he was both a writer of Science Fiction and Fantasy and a renowned christian apologist
This is what I want to do, write Christian fantasy. So, love that you are doing this. But, same question as I ask everyone giving writing advice is, "what makes you an expert"?
I take the revelations and morals learned from the Bible and imprint them on fictional stories. New characters and setting provide fresh and insightful read.
Thank you i feel good all i need to do write a story that glory God and i will do my best
I love the Kingdom series.
I'm glad I've found this video. In my grand fantasy series I put a lot of emphasis of the goodness and triumph of the indomitable human spirit. In parts 1-3 the character of God in that universe has taken a step back and is allowing both angel kind and mortal kind to develop on their own and grow up. One of my favorite scenes to write in part 3 is a group of humans who have a piece of angel/God power argue with a group of angels who are giving up on the fight against the demon army. The angels have lost the ability to resurrect/heal themselves and are now afraid of death. However the human character points out that the fear of dying is a huge part of why their kind don't ever give up. This motivates the angels to give their powers to a bunch of mortals who have all put aside their differences in the fight against the demons.
I have a lot more examples, but I'm sharing this because I love implementing the foundational truths that I know into something beautiful that isn't just an advert for church. God is good and he made us to be good.
I needed it today
Praise the Lord! So glad it was helpful to you.
Great video and for sharing your story! ☺️
Thank you so much for watching!
You do know that the most famous fantasy authors are Christians right . Don't limit your self you will be surprised what you can accomplish.
I truly believe in writing the stories that God wants us to write. My mother was not happy to learn that I was writing a sci-fi book, but I am. I know I have the ability to write, but in order to write Christian stories, I need to have Christian ideas. I have asked God for guidance and, if He wishes me to not write said story, He can put a stop to it in one way or another. I trust Him to guide me. If He wants me to throw it all away, I will, hard as that might be. His ways are best. But, for now, He has not said no, and I write. ❤🤷♀️
I write Christian fiction. I know there r going to be characters who will be Christians and won't be. How do I decide which ones become Christians and how do I realistically convert my characters into Christians, especially if they r the antogonist
I get everything you were saying in this video 100%. My father doesn't believe Christianity and fantasy can mix, but the rest of my family (myself included) disagree.
I have this being in my story that is basically God. A part of me is intimidated by this idea because "What if I make God sin by accident?" or "What was God's reasoning for doing this that or the other?"😂
I ask God every day for guidance with my story, but most definitely, with this being in particular. I'm like, "Hey, God, this thing is basically YOU. Help me to understand YOU so that I don't mess YOU up."
I'm a Christian and people say Harry Potter or Star Wars, and LOTR are demonic, and most of my dreams of books are based off those series. (LOTR has biblical stuff in it) I'm scared people are going to say my books are demonic, but there are no witches, or satanic symbols in my books. Is it okay to write fantasy with dragons, phoenixes, and like SpierWickChronicles-based stuff as a Christain?
Hi @MarianaC47! While I don't know anything about the SpiderWick Chronicles (so I can't really speak to that part of your question), I can say that I love Harry Potter, Star Wars, and LOTR and see absolutely no problem with a fantasy that involves dragons or pheonixes (both SO cool). :) It's true that many Christians still avoid sci-fi/fantasy, and they have their reasons for that conviction, which is perfectly fine. I personally see a lot of value in the genre, but we still need to be prayerful about what we include and make sure our stories ultimately promote Christ/what he stands for. It sounds like that's what you're doing, so keep it up! Give your story to God, and ask Him to help you craft something that ultimately honours Him, and find Christian sci-fi fantasy readers to bounce ideas off and hold you accountable.
Also, remember that the people who dismiss LOTR, HP, and Star Wars as demonic are probably not the people you're writing for. I'm sure they're experts in the genres they read, but they're not necessarily qualified critics of what works in sci-fi/fantasy. I could walk into a five star restaurant, order the fanciest dish, and hate it because I just can't properly appreciate what goes into it-that doesn't mean the dish is bad, it just means I'm probably not the target customer. It can be really important to keep that target demographic in mind, and to plug into the Christian fantasy community! Even if you don't write Christian fantasy per se, it can be helpful to see what other Christians are reading and including in their stories.
I hope that sort of helps??? I know it can be really difficult to write in this genre with the negativity surrounding it in certain Christian circles, but there are lots of Christians who believe that this genre is a powerful tool for telling important stories. I am one of them, and I am so excited for you and your story. :)
If you want to chat more, feel free to shoot me a DM on Insta!
@@nikiflorica8783 Thank you, that makes me feel much better about it. I also like to write christian fiction , self-care books, and old-style christian romance books. I hope my books do well in the future. Thank you again. ❤
You mentioned a few times that you want to make sure that your stories don't contradict scripture. I'm just wondering, if it's a fictional story, how could it contradict scripture? A story is just a story. It's not meant to be taken as truth.
Or to ask the question from another direction, what would it mean for a story to contradict scripture? Could you give examples? Perhaps some story decisions that you were considering, but in the end you chose a different direction because of your faith?
Hi Karl! There are a few ways to contradict Scripture with a story, at least that I've come across in my adventures so far. For one, a story could glorify or present as "good" something that is objectively wrong or harmful in God's sight. Sometimes that's blatantly obvious; sometimes it's a little harder to discern. Or, particularly in fiction with allegorical undertones, a writer might take creative liberties with the "fictional" part of the story that skew the Scriptural parts or undermine the original biblical meaning. This is especially possible if it isn't clear where the fiction ends and the Scriptural parallels begin. I've run into that problem when dabbling in allegory, especially when my own characters want to do things that would get in the way of what matters most in the Bible story I'm paralleling.
Ultimately, writers don't have total control over what readers will get out of their stories: you can do everything right and still get a reader who misunderstands, after all! But as a Christian, I believe in putting extensive thought and prayer into story choices to make sure that the story as a *whole* points in an edifying and Scriptural direction. I know that's not a super cut-and-dry answer, but like so many things, it's a complex conundrum that is very individual to the writer and the story in question! Fortunately, Christians have the Spirit to guide and convict us in the creative process; and the stories that result will look different from writer to writer because different stories speak to different people-and God uses diverse writers to meet those diverse needs.
I hope that helps a little?
@nikiflorica8783 Oh yeah. The morality part makes sense. I think I had just taken it for granted that the values of the author will shine through in the story.
As for the allegory aspect, it sounds like an easy way to avoid that would be to simply not write biblical allegories? But if that's what you want to do, I guess this is something you have to think about. I just haven't had much interest in writing that particular kind of story.